


Deviancy

by RollD6ToPorn



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Gangbang, Hate Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:27:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23703073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RollD6ToPorn/pseuds/RollD6ToPorn
Summary: An account of Pink Diamond's rule from an alternative timeline in which her most notable aspects - her charm, her curiosity, her secrets - take on a far more sinister and deviant hue, until it reshapes the Empire from the inside out. When a perfect Jasper is birthed from a kindergarten so dysfunctional as to seem sabotaged, her fate is rewritten to become a permanent fixture of entertainment in Pink's notorious court.
Kudos: 17





	1. Deviancy

“Enjoying yourself, sis?”

A droning, dismal groan was the only response.

Amethyst chuckled as she rested her chin against the cool metal surrounding her forearms, arching her back into a sultry curve. Her snickering segued into a contented hum as it had the desired effect on the human behind her. The soft plap-plap rhythm beating out in the tropical air suddenly took on a doubled tempo. “You really oughta learn to enjoy yourself,” she added, watching her oversized sister from underneath a half-lidded expression; even when relaxed, her eyes sat like gleaming daggers floating in two dark, iridescent pools.

“I… am,” Jasper lied, with a wincing expression that retightened itself every third of a second. She had been monosyllabic for a while now, when her words didn’t drown to death in a simpering growl. Her male attendant kept thrusting regardless, oblivious to her protestations.

“Of course you do,” Amethyst purred. “Why else would you keep volunteering for it all these years?” She focused idly on her periphery while her robotic digits floated rigidly in the air in front of her, bobbing in a synchronized wave. They all twitched slightly when the man latched his hands into her sides, digging greedily into plump flesh. She pulled her feet back towards her in response, gently pressing the solid frame of her boots against his ass so he would penetrate deeper into hers.

Jasper tightened her grip, tearing at the patchwork of soft, fabriclike turf. She glanced upward and then shook away tussled hair as it dangled in front of her eyes, searching the depths of the Zoo’s artificial sky. Her vision traced along the polished walls where the sentries and audiences would watch over the inhabitants below, but failed to find the familiar silhouette she desired.

“My Diamond wills it,” she grumbled, letting her head sink back down as she tried to ignore the frenetic pace of her own human companion. He pulled back on the ends of her mane for leverage as he pulsed inside her, hips working feverishly against the muscular tightness of her lips. She reacted as if it were a sting when his balls slapped against her clit. Her hissing breath became a gasp as he suddenly came inside.

Amethyst just laughed at her.

* * *

She forgot just how quickly the years really had sped by. Jasper would’ve been among the elite by now just being of those first born on Colony P1-3, regardless of caste. But polluted as the rock was, the first kindergartens came with a tainted reputation, and Facet 9 was no different. She was an exception in many ways, however.

In the web of stories spun in gossiping circles around the Empire, most gems agree on one thing: the planet itself was to blame for the catastrophe that unfolded. Later events could be explained, but the metrics coming out of the initial survey never matched the subsequent result. Colony P1-3 had plentiful silica, diverse arrays of intermediate trace elements, excellent carbon compression, and an astounding iron supply. Yellow Diamond nearly abandoned her duties as surrogate pathfinder to take the colony for herself, but promises were kept. And an easy start was necessary.

It was reasonable for the first seed, but once the pattern emerged, the technicians and kindergartners started to worry. Defectiveness rates were becoming statistically significant, until they were almost double-digits. Nominal gems were born promisingly, but if it seemed that any platoon was close to emerging flawless, the streak would be broken with particular flair. The first colonizers were shamed from their positions and replaced, then silently vindicated when even more off-colors and substandard gems developed.

Despite all the special care, the umbilical of Homeworld grows thin at its frontiers. P1-3 had to make do until it could fend for itself. Even an off-color can be useful, if obedient enough, whether as a rock-mover or just re-baked into furniture or an out-of-sight support column.

Pink Diamond was particularly partial to court jesters.

Her masterstroke was unconventional, but effective. They were Her gems. She gave them all she could, worked tirelessly to extract her very Self to seed this world. With the meager stockpile of injectors available, P1-3 couldn't afford to be picky. But beyond mere tolerance, Pink Diamond extended this interdependence into integration. Perhaps a Homeworld battalion would've shirked at its oversized “mascot division”, but the colonials had the ignorance to make kinship possible. Even for individuals, her touch was personal, flush with pet names and liberal usage of the Imperial Possessive. One can expect a Pearl to be Your Pearl. What astounding tolerance allows a Ruby to become Your Ruby?

Of course, the off-colors couldn’t escape ostracization completely, even from Her. Those elevated to commanding roles - a practice unheard of until P1-3's founding – could still fall under the typical wrath of Homeworld when Her Beauty's ire was raised or boredom revealed. The dichotomy was motivating to say the least, so much so that it extended even to the unflawed. To be entertaining, to be novel, to be interesting: those were the factors that ensured survival. Otherwise, the response became draconian. It was almost ironic, but undoubtedly intentional on Pink's part that the result was a free-wheeling court of worry-free sergeants and cavalier foot soldiers. Even a highborn visitor from Homeworld could receive the unique gift of a Pink Diamond “pet name” so long as they looked like they were enjoying themselves.

By shocking decree, even P1-3 earned a familial moniker: Earth. A made-up word of unknown meaning and odd, almost guttural pronunciation, yet a uniqueness that elevated it arbitrarily on every star chart to the same position as the only other system to stand outside convention: Homeworld. In hindsight, the scandal should've been more disruptive, not because of the shirking of tradition, but for the future it foretold. The name was a warning.

The next scandal erupted so quickly that they almost merged, initialized by nothing more than a simple accounting report: production numbers on Earth were on target. Of course, the bar was set by the median fledgling colony – but with trivial defect rates. It was supposedly impossible to meet on a planet downright tinted by an off-color working population. There was still enough room to give the aristocracy plenty of defensive ground, but the real economists quietly understood. When subsequent reports transformed coincidence into pattern, they were quietly sweating. Survey projections. Gem composition rates. Geoform progression. You are not allowed to be wrong three times in a row. That would be, very, off-color. How would you like reassignment to P1-3, I'm sorry, Earth? Exiles did not officially exist in the Empire, now they were a de facto caste. At least it was preferable to the alternative.

* * *

The technicians of Facet 5 felt sabotaged. Their location appeared sterile from the outset, and sampling data did little to improve their intuitive forecasts. Moreover, their schedule was sliced in half by their superiors, screaming at them to raise a new legion of gems that would finally meet the standards of Homeworld, in a desperate attempt to catch up from the deficiencies every previous kindergarten had given them. Any argument that rushing would only exacerbate the problem fell on deaf ears: this was a personal directive by Pink Diamond, the site supposedly foreshadowed by her court’s own oracles.

In those curved sandstone walls and hastily erected injectors, a plethora of worthless gems tumbled out. A legion of soldiers was born as a heterogeneous glut of misfits characteristic of the colony. The kindergartners in charge resigned themselves to scheduling out their shattering in advance, timed directly to follow when the final ranks were fully unveiled. That is, until she emerged.

Jasper was a marvel in a multitude of ways, not just in her supreme stature and geoid makeup, but in the salvation she promised for those who raised her. Her very first steps served to contrast the mockery that were her siblings, and immediately upon her birth she was raised to be the pinnacle of their unit. She beamed when they told her she was perfection.

Her first day was a nonstop tour up the colony’s ranks, kindergartners presenting her to overseers and overseers on to commanders, melting through the chain of command until it became clear that she would be presented to Pink Diamond herself. Her uniform was augmented in the brightest pinks and cleanest seams, her hair groomed to accentuate every natural tuft, her stripes brushed with rouge dust crushed from the glass she had been born in. She shimmered both in appearance and in doted-upon mood, lips permanently pursed into a smile.

She towered over the selection of Pink’s personal guard sent to escort her from the surface to the orbital platform. The Zoo was still under frenzied construction, a mere sliver of what it would eventually become, but it still served a minimal of its intended capacities. That included a palatial home for the Diamond herself, and she slowly shifted her primary operations there as her entertainment was further established in its conjunction.

Among the guardswomen, Pink’s Pearl personally received her onto the station. She marveled much like all the others had done in Jasper’s height and apparent strength, gracing her fingers along all the length she could manage to reach. She contrasted the warrior’s simplistic uniform with the sleek thinness of her own servant’s garb, a small, living taste of the Diamond’s beauty.

“I have no doubt you will be among our Diamond’s favorites,” Pearl said with sharp, appreciative eyes. Although she had been surrounded by gushing compliments for hours now, the soothing expression made Jasper warm with love. She didn’t even notice the change in atmosphere as she was ferried along to Pink’s court, that subtle shift from straitlaced lieutenants to the sly tones and coy eyes of the colonial nobility. The only minor note of strangeness she grew aware of was when Pink’s Pearl escorted her along by wrapping both arms around one of her own, hugging close like a protected lover, even as she aimlessly remarked on the makeup and composition of the royal audience.

By the time she had actually reached her liege, the aristocracy was already abuzz with the news of a new addition to Pink’s inner circle. Pink Diamond herself took the announcement with cool rapport, a pleased smile under hunter’s eyes. Jasper felt awash by a perfection that she could scarcely believe she was being compared to.

“My will belongs to you alone, my Diamond,” she pledged, bowing deeply on one knee amidst a sea of envious gentry. The Empress was summarily delighted.

“I haven’t seen such a well-cut specimen since…” Pink Diamond paused as she rose from her throne to her subject, stroking through Jasper’s hair until her fingers landed underneath her chin and pulled her gaze from the floor. “Homeworld,” she punctuated in a slightly cooler tone.

“Your radiance,” Jasper uttered, catching her breath.

“My Jasper,” Pink replied, before a devilish smirk cut across her expression. She leaned down towards her subordinate until their lips locked together, her fingers firm on the other’s chin. Jasper’s eyes widened as she felt a silky tongue probe against her own. For all the inborn knowledge she possessed, she was suddenly submerged in something utterly foreign. Her shocked stare continued even after the Diamond finally pulled away. Pink’s tongue grazed along a still-slick portion of her lips, savoring the taste.

“She is the perfect soldier,” the Pearl remarked. It was just enough to snap Jasper’s attention to her and the rest of the court, not for its bizarreness but for its complete nonchalance. The rest of the nobility hadn’t seemed to react to the lurid kiss with any more than varying degrees of sly smirks.

“She is, isn’t she?” Pink replied in what sounded like a strange mix of satisfaction and boredom to Jasper’s ears, which failed to make sense given the circumstances. It wasn’t until several moments into Pink’s dialogue that she realized her mouth was still agape. “Jasper really is a testament to the supremacy of my regime,” she continued, now sounding as if she was quoting out of a piece of literature. “I’ll have to carefully consider where I could use such a valuable asset.”

Regaining her composure even as confusion flitted around in her mind, Jasper returned her head to a submissive bow. She realized she could still gaze into the eyes of her Diamond in the reflective haze of the polished crystalline floors.

“What would you like to do to serve me, Jasper?”

“Whatever it is that you wish for, my Diamond.”

“Yes, of course.” Jasper watched and then felt a miniscule tickle as Pink stroked a loose tuft of Jasper’s hair. “But what is your personal preference?”

“I serve whatever needs or desires you have most,” Jasper repeated. The demure language of a lesser gem was already seared into her mind, but even if she had fully learned the independence that came with her new rank, she had hardly spent enough time out of the rock to desire anything more than directed servitude.

There was an odd moment of silence. Jasper’s eyes had focused on Pink’s gem, reflected in the floor, but a peculiar motion brought it back to her leader’s expression, although just a moment too late. But it almost seemed like she was rolling her eyes. Pink’s face then shifted back to a content smile aimed at the other members of the audience ringed around them.

“Very well, I will keep you here, as part of my personal entourage.” Jasper raised her head, unable to resist from showing off an elated smile. “I will be placing you in charge of zoological operations on my estate. My Pearl can escort you to your duties and provide the instruction you need to attend them.”

“Thank you infinitely, my Diamond.”

Pink brushed her hand through the air as if disrupting an errant fly, and her eyes leapt skyward while her head remained fixed. Jasper took it as honorable that after hours of being shuffled before the apex of power, she could finally be put to work. Her beaming was slightly knocked ajar as the Pearl again wrapped around her bicep, gently tugging her from her kneeling position. She felt that now familiar strangeness infecting her yet again as she stared back into the Pearl’s fixating eyes. The servant’s teeth were grinding lightly into her bottom lip, until it gently flicked out. Another odd expression that Jasper couldn’t interpret, as incongruous as it seemed to mix a pleasurable smile with predatory gaze.

* * *

In a way, the biggest danger on Earth was culture shock. Demographics aside, Pink's court was new, and once the colony had secured production such that the other Diamonds could direct their attention elsewhere, it began to take a shape unique to its owner. At least, that was the outsider impression. For those who understood the situation on the ground, paranoia again turned towards some poison that existed long before.

Given the requirements for a productive colony, indigenous wildlife is a common concern, but a well-studied and essentially solved problem. Earth was no exception to the rule, but its sedateness was yet another factor that made it a promising start for a novice dictator. Microbial life was easily sterilized out of delicate machinery and would fail to interface with Gem anatomy anyway. It naturally died away at injector sites and - despite the continuing deviancy rates - was proven to have no congenital effect on the gems produced.

Larger specimens were comparatively rare and typically fearful. Those that posed any practical threat were barely of a category worth trophy-hunting. Along the intellectual spectrum, threat projections were also zeroed-out, with the most advanced life having only mastered rudimentary tool use. In all, the zoological demands were trivial. The geoforming process would prompt an ecological collapse just ahead of normal expansion. A garden that weeded itself.

But even at this early point, designers should've stopped taking expectations for granted. Perhaps they did. More than the meager hunting activities by the eccentric aristocracy, Pink Diamond took an interest in the local fauna and flora that soon incorporated itself aesthetically, and then physically, into her court. The tool-using primitives particularly took her interest, and the parody of their activities made a starring role in her regular entertainment. Their atonal music, their flailing dances, their jumpy and staccato singing. Demeaning to partake in but a serviceable comedy, until parody segued into degeneration. Like all corruption, it sneaks in as an ironic paradox. Another recreational session of court dedicated to “Earthly appreciation”, but this time to replicate their baser acts.

The novelty of eating food you don't need broached the subject of shapeshifting for entertainment, like an overbored gem prole. But when your liege is eating, you eat too. Enjoyment is optional. The appearance of enjoyment is not. That was the twisted equality of Pink's court: her status above you allowed her to debase herself, and to avoid any activity would be to assert yourself above the Diamond, so the obvious followed. When she drinks, and she hums a note of satisfaction, you match her every note. If she laughs at you, you hum even harder. If she laughs at someone else, you laugh with her, but you let her laugh the hardest.

When she sings, you sing.  
When she dances, you dance.  
When she sleeps, you sleep.  
When she mates, you mate.

* * *

“The Zoo facilities house a key selection of the colony’s native wildlife for Pink Diamond to enjoy,” the Pearl explained as the two strolled into the lower levels of the station, answering Jasper’s unspoken questions. “It is a permanent, perfect facsimile of the surface’s natural biome, just prior to colonization. The primary specimen are humans, which are Her favorite.”

“Excellent,” Jasper replied, her gaze drifting to a wistful direction as pride slipped into her chest. What better place could she ask for than caring for Pink’s personal pastimes?

“Excellent indeed! The automated systems take care of most of the creatures’ needs and schedules, but occasionally a direct touch is required and a gem may need to enter the sanctuaries.” The Pearl gestured down to the floor, whose construction now relented from solid, pinkish alloy to pure glass, which hovered over a vast landscape of ruffled, patchwork green and mottled blues, with an occasional curve of bright, twisting streams painted into its surface. Jasper marveled at the pristine transition from flawless Gem architecture to such an expertly tamed terrarium.

The Pearl tugged along her arm, guiding them suddenly into one of the hundreds of locks that fed into the habitat from the superstructure above. She unwrapped herself and began keying in inputs on the nearby display as she continued her tour. “Superficially, human anatomy is quite similar to a Gem’s, making them quite approachable. But for close interaction, you should make certain adjustments to keep from startling the wildlife.”

“What kinds of adjustments?”

“Everyone must be sterilized before entering the environment. It’ll be easier if you disrobe.” As if to demonstrate, the Pearl shimmered in a dull light, until the fabric of her resplendent leotard faded into bare, pale skin. Jasper followed without much hesitation, but she failed to hide her puzzled look once the Pearl turned in place, revealing physical aspects of that she herself did not possess.

“What-”

“One of the adjustments you will have to make,” Pearl replied quickly, stepping back into close proximity. “It may seem awkward at first, but it really does assist in assuaging the beasts. Allow me to help you.” She touched one of the displays again, igniting a selection of floating panels that closed in around her. They displayed all manner of anatomical and also more aesthetical depictions of her hidden biology. In another sudden surprise, Jasper flinched as lithe fingers slipped down between her legs.

“Here,” Pearl directed in a slightly smoky tone. “It will have to be appropriately sensitive to achieve the natural shape.” She paused a moment as Jasper stared blankly at one of holographic projections. “Unless you’re not able to shapeshift so early,” she added, now in a more noticeably sly tone.

More than anything, this caught her off guard. “Of course not!” Jasper snapped, before realizing how quick she was. “I mean, of course it’s not too early. I just… need a second.” The Pearl traced her fingers along a peculiar, invisible line.

“Take your time.”

Jasper memorized the screens for a moment and then clenched her eyes tight. Somehow, she felt as if Pearl controlled how her flesh took shape, following along behind her fingertips with new, light-formed flesh.

“Good,” Pearl whispered, her hand completely underneath Jasper. She stroked again as she withdrew it, prompting a sudden, unexpected gasp from Jasper. “Oh, more than good. Perfection.” The familiar word put Jasper slightly at ease for a moment, before it reminded her just how incongruous this all seemed compared to the heights she had been elevated to before. “Now step on through the chamber. The system will cleanse you of any organic material you might’ve carried from your kindergarten on Earth.”

“On what?”

“The colony,” Pearl corrected without elaboration. “It’ll also outfit you with clothing the humans are used to. Just another aspect of familiarity to keep them docile. I’ll be monitoring you from here.”

“You won’t be inside with me?”

“It’s all just a routine adjustment,” Pearl repeated, punctuating her casual remark with a long blink and a quick pulse as her original outfit hummed back into existence around her frame. “I’m sure you can handle it on your own, right?” Jasper squinted this time. A third remark like that would make it a pattern. “Just go in whenever you’re ready.”

Jasper looked down and felt along the smooth space above her new lips. She realized just how bright her stripes looked against her skin with their dusting of glass. She wondered how off-putting that might seem to the captive humans. Feeling she had hesitated just enough not to seem conspicuous, she marched down the corridor, unsurprised when the door snapped shut behind her.

The containment system sprung to life around her, slowly propelling her forward along its conveyor. Sensors floated to and fro, casting a light heat against her skin as their radiation swept across her frame. She felt herself cleansed of glittering makeup, but still felt overly bright. It disconcerted her that it might in fact be natural. Her train of thought was broken by quick stings in either ear, and she felt at the dangling crystals hanging along as a result.

“The humans can understand basic linguistic communication,” Pearl’s voice rang out gently from the earring as they pulsed with a soft light. “We use these devices to influence their behaviors, so it won’t look out of place for us to communicate the same way.”

“Right,” Jasper aimlessly replied. She lifted her arms as the devices beckoned her to do so. A solid pillar fell from above, just large enough to encompass her. When it retracted, Jasper was left draped in a thin swath of intertangled blue and white cloth. It felt surprisingly comfortable once complete, breezy and loose compared to the standard Homeworld uniform. But the breeze felt slightly unwelcome when it brushed up underneath around the unfamiliar extremities of her crotch.

When the scans completed, Jasper felt herself unceremoniously deposited through a trap door whose result ran wildly through the habitat’s framework, leaving her discombobulated once she was finally thrust out through an obscured edifice onto the ground below. She was thankful at least that her landing zone was amongst a pillowlike clearing in the otherwise cluttered faux-woodland. She dusted herself off and examined her surroundings, taking in the humid air as it snuck past her gem. The grass-like floor was especially unique, perhaps the softest thing she had ever felt in her admittedly short lifespan. Second only to Pink Diamond’s lips.

The thought left something unidentifiable, but still small enough that it could be ignored amongst the other novel sensations surrounding her. Jasper stretched to her full height and made her way through the brush, finding the built-in gaps in the foliage a little too small for her lumbering frame.

“A group of humans is just ahead of you, near the stream. Keep going.”

“What am I supposed to do when I see them?” Jasper tilted her head up to the artificial heavens, wondering if she could spot Pink’s Pearl spying from one of the observational halls, but failing to find any apparent witnesses. The dazzlingly blue hues of the domed sky would’ve made it a difficult hunt regardless. It was far more resplendent that the real thing.

“Just make yourself known and let them come to you,” the earrings projected. Just as soon, Jasper cut through the final layer of silken vegetation and found herself in the main clearing she had seen from above. The languid stream burbled just a dozen feet away, and further along onto the hill beyond she spied lifeforms she could identify from the identical clothing they wore to hers. Despite the basic instructions, she felt a little too far for a proper introduction, and so gently stalked along the grass floor to get closer. She measured the river out with her toes, finding it barely deep enough to reach her knees and enough to traverse in just a few strides.

She soaked her feet through the surface and internally marveled at the massaging current and the gentle chill that contrasted with the warm breeze. Something about this place was etching itself like stone into her mind, every novel sensation countering the figurative textbook of experiences she had been born with. She understood a rigid hall intrinsically, but something about the naturalistic edifice – even if completely artificial – left itself writ large upon her psyche. The only sensation that was more odd was the calculated realization that she would never forget this day, in all its exacting detail.

By the time she had crossed, the creatures had spotted her. At first they glanced over idly, before a sudden jolt of surprise perked them up. Even from this distance, she could see their broad smiles shine out one by one. Pearl was right: they were remarkably, eerily similar. Their colors were dulled, missing that subtle sheen found even in paler gems like Pink’s Pearl herself, and all topped with especially plain hair, but besides that and a somewhat more uniform stature, it made sense how the humans could possibly regard a gem as one of their own. Jasper herself still felt somewhat incongruous, since even among gems she stood out.

The native group leapt up and ran to her, although their obvious excitement kept their rush from appearing hostile. Jasper marveled as their whoops and shouts became understandable as they grew close, recognizing their awkward tongues as a mimicry of gem speech. She couldn’t help but smile slightly at how close of a resemblance that Pink’s regime had fostered in another, completely separate form of life. The smile only multiplied from the infectious enthusiasm.

“Are you a new friend,” she managed to pick up out of the din of chattering from the ten excitable humans surrounding her. A few leapt around her, trying to take all of her in. Jasper raised her hands instinctively, cautious to leave them near the creatures as they hovered around crotch height. On the one woman’s remark, the rest began to echo the sentiment in overeager fashion.

“Good job, Jasper,” Pearl’s voice suddenly broke in above the cacophony just enough for her to hear. “Now introduce yourself.”

“I thought I just did that.”

“Just follow along with what they do. And show them that you’re like them,” she clarified. “Pull up your dress.” The humans didn’t seem to hear over their own cavorting. Jasper slowly lowered an arm and slipped it past the crowd, carefully pulling the edge of her cloth. The effect was immediate, almost sedative. Their mouths reshaped into sudden “Oohs”, marveling on her recently shifted addition. Jasper could hardly understand what the fuss could be, but couldn’t deny that it seemed to have a hypnotic effect on the varied crowd.

“Go ahead, everyone,” Pearl chimed in, her voice lonely enough now to affect them. “Make your new friend feel comfortable.” It took Jasper a moment to realize that she was the one being referred to, and somehow the knowledge wasn’t as comforting as its invitation suggested. Comparatively tiny hands suddenly went up around her, like a messy mimicry of the gestures Pearl had imparted on her before. They held a similar effect, especially when an adventurous hand slipped between her thighs.

“Ahh,” she gasped, slightly indignant. “You little…”

“Let them get comfortable with you, Jasper.” She wanted to debate the instruction, but a sudden tugging sensation distracted her, one of the humans pulling along the other side of her loincloth, its giggling contrasting with its very intentional motions. It hardly affected her, but in trying to play along she found herself leaning backwards to sit down anyway, as if just to be kind.

Doing so seemed to offer a bit of shelter as it temporarily pulled her privations out of reach, but just as quickly as she had settled, it seemed to become a mistake. Now the crowd began clambering around and over her, thin, soft hands probing up and down in a much more determined sweep than before. One of them suddenly leaned in too close for comfort, pecking their lips against hers. It stunned her that the act was at all familiar.

“What?!” Jasper felt her stripes flush. The human snickered, along with the crowd, who began planting their own kisses along with their impromptu massages. The earrings were now unnervingly silent. More tugging. A human swept up behind her, wrapping their arms around her neck. Jasper’s instincts would’ve preferred it to be an attack; a weird hug just left her discombobulated. She tried to remember that these were animals, primitive things just trying to sniff her out. She leaned back again along with the apparent invitation, trying to play along to save face. The crowd certainly seemed to appreciate it.

She felt them playing with her robes, pulling and unraveling. She couldn’t understand why, when their own dress was identical save for the size, until she saw some among them repeating the motions on their own. The biggest confusion came when they revealed themselves, and their anatomy suddenly differed from what she had deliberately created to match them.

“What is this?”

“They’re mating with you,” Pearl chimed in, with a quality that sounded uncharacteristically smooth and low. It reminded her of Pink Diamond.

“What does that mean?”

“Procreation. Just watch.” The instruction was redundant, as Jasper could do nothing else, entranced by the suddenly practiced motions of the human in front of her. They slipped down, easing themselves between her legs with a rigid, alien protuberance aimed towards her. When she lost sight of it behind her own flesh, she instinctively started to sit up, only for the shock to send her back flat. Her first thought was that she had made everything far too sensitive, despite Pearl’s initial instructions, until the earrings broke in again, gleefully.

“Very good, Jasper!”

“What… I-i-is it supposed to feel like this?!” The humans seemed to answer the question for her as their laughter rose up again. She felt the penetrating human grind around inside her, before following her down until his chest pressed against her abs. A subtler sort of tingle came when he nestled his chin between her breasts and gave her a loose, contented smile.

“Don’t fight it, Jasper.” The reminder initially had the opposite effect, reminding her that the option was theoretically there, at least until the next caveat came. “We wouldn’t want Pink Diamond’s pets to get hurt.” She felt a sudden, gentle impact as the male bounced on top of her, stoking a noticeable warmth. When her hands felt idle, twitching for activity, she rested them back beside her head, almost trying to grasp at the grass for leverage until another fleshy rod suddenly slipped in amongst her fingers. Her head whipped around, suddenly staring at the thick appendage at an uncomfortably close range. It stroked along her palm, like an animal unto itself. Another human stripped itself against her, revealing the more familiar anatomy that she had mimicked, and kissed its lips against her other hand.

“What-” she found herself saying again before a dozen impacts shook against her, reducing her speech to mere vowels. She felt wrong, as if she were making a mistake. The heat was creeping up from beneath her chest and had somehow billowed itself up in her cheeks. She felt entirely as bright as the sandstone ribbons in her skin. The little voice came back again, with just the smallest edge of a bite this time.

“Good girl. Let him cum inside.”

“Cum?” Jasper asked, helplessly. The answer came in another series of ferocious impacts. Jasper tried drawing her legs towards her, the trunks of her thighs latching on to her partner as she did so. The contact against skin forced an effeminate yelp from her, then another that continued as the human wrung himself out deep inside her. The heat exploded now, rocking its way up her spine. She clasped her palm against her lips, biting against the flesh as something flooded inside her.

“Wonderful,” came the soft, cooing little voice. The human huffed against her chest, cooling air against the sticky humidity between them. Finally he arched back, withdrawing himself from inside her, shocking her with another novel sensation that somehow felt far more violating than that initial penetration. She watched agape as he withdrew, his spear now half the strength it seemed to exhibit before. It left a string of some vile substance along her mound, along with the realization that much more now flowed in a sick pool within her.

The crowd somehow seemed energized by this display, shuffling from aimless grinding and ambient moans to assume new roles. Jasper watched, half entranced just by her own panting, until another human with a similar member assumed a now familiar position.

“W-wait,” she said pointlessly, followed by a wounded groan as it ignored her. She reached forward to try and restrain the interloper, only to have another straddle atop her chest, firm flesh pressed against soft breasts. Another human slipped her arms around one left outstretched and pulled back, returning it to a soft grind between her legs.

Jasper could’ve ripped each of the creatures apart at will, but the torrent of thoughts and emotions kept her waiting anxiously. And it seemed that any time the inclination was beginning to boil over, the little voice would chime, seemingly just to carry even worse news.

She hated that voice. She wanted to do everything she could to avoid it.

A feminine human leaned down and slipped her tongue between Jasper’s lips as she was lost in thought. She tasted exactly like Pink Diamond. The discovery was so much that it was only another shuddering burst that knocked out her train of thought. Shallow repetitions of the initial burst followed, renewing the source of heat that had slowly streamed out of her in the course of procession. Jasper let her head fall back with a rumbling groan, her hips lifting slightly as the human left her. The woman’s lips chased after, probing their tongue against the vibration of her growl. Jasper fought her off with a languishing exhale as a third male excitedly probed her. Her body tightened until it felt almost as alien as those surrounding her.

“Marvelous, my perfect little Jasper.” Jasper’s eyes shot open as the voice took on a decidedly deadlier aspect, far beyond the abilities of a dainty-voiced Pearl. Although the words played under her ear, her eyes instinctively went hunting through the sky. Ringed along the outer wall, she could spy the glass corridor set against it, where Pink Diamond now stood admiring from the viewport, shadowed by Pearl and some of the familiar faces of her cadre.

When their eyes caught, Pink’s face twisted into a fanatical grin, and then an uproarious laugh that carried through the communicator, just as the human began to fill her. It was a fatal combination, the first event leaving Jasper completely unguarded for the second. Uneven spasms danced from the epicenter of their contact, until her hips jumped and pivoted against their mate. Jasper lost her own voice, replaced by one completely foreign to her, singing a frightened refrain as it bounced out of her chest. The laughter rose until it created a baleful, uneven duet.

* * *

The show endured for hours. The audience initially only consisted of Pink and her inner circle, but as the news trickled throughout the complex, the remaining nobility made a note to pass by the Zoo’s observation posts to see the new caretaker in action. Similarly, the crowd of humans grew too. Marveling at their new playmate’s abundant size and unending stamina, passing groups naturally floated in to add to the revolving orgy. Jasper kept her position obediently, overwhelmed by every repeating sensation and restrained by her own sense of duty and abandonment.

It was hours after the artificial sky had given way to naked stars that she realized she had been lying in a daze well after the final human took advantage of her. She sat up on sore joints, surveying the spiraling swaths of flesh sleeping around her in uneven patterns across the landscape. The little voice’s laughter had stopped ages ago.

Slowly, her body drew itself taut into a stand, letting escape one last momentary shudder as cool liquid squeezed and trickled out from her overtender lips. The doors to the habitat opened freely for her. The corridors similarly slept, with all recent activity swept away for more interesting distractions. Jasper marched like an automaton, holding her loincloth against her lower belly.

When she reached the entrance to Pink Diamond’s court, the guards merely stared at her, nonreactive even as she strolled in without flair or favor or request for an audience. Pink was lazily speaking with her resident Jades when she caught her eye, barely changing from her idly pleased expression atop her throne, head relaxed in her hand. When Jasper reached the foot of the stairs towards the throne, she stopped, watching the frozen reflections in the floor past her otherwise blinding mop of unkempt hair stained with sweat and ejaculate.

After a suspended minute, she set herself back onto one knee. The squeezing pose of her legs left her leaking onto the polished floor.

“Hello, my Jasper.”

“My Diamond,” she answered even more hoarsely than was her nature.

“Did you have fun in your new duties today?”

“I do whatever it is my Diamond wishes.”

“You certainly do,” the tyrant replied, losing some of the humor in her voice. Jasper’s stare was much too distant to make out if Pink was rolling her eyes this time. After another round of asocial silence, she began answering Jasper’s unasked questions. “You know, your little introduction to humanity was pretty similar to my own.”

Jasper blinked.

“I mean, I knew them before. They’re fascinating, aren’t they?” Pink wove her hands together, leaving two fingers trailing out to twiddle in the air like a kicking little creature. Her voice took on an airy, vibrant tone. “The way they play, their funny bodies, their little – noises,” she listed, adding half a squeak amongst the latter words as if to simulate. “I had to sneak around to see them when Blue or Yellow were around, but once they were gone? Ah,” she sighed in heavenly memory, “it was the most fun I ever had. And the most I ever learned. But, then again…”

Pink Diamond clutched her hands towards her lips. “Well, let’s just say they weren’t as ‘inviting’ as they were to you.”

* * *

The humans of Earth, like other animal life, typically feared the gems. Occasionally pointed curiosity would bring them into close contact before quickly being shooed away. When Gem construction projects began, they migrated either when the machines roared to life, or after the surrounding green of the land itself began drying up under their feet. On very rare occasion, the humans worshipped Gems like deities. But prostration only goes so far with an alien civilization, especially when all your activities only exist on a continuum between “quaint” and “intrusive”.

Pink Diamond could appreciate these activities slightly more, but her contact, however much she dwelled on it back in court, was usually short-lived. But when the other Diamonds began to move on to other duties, Pink began extending her personal touch. She gave herself free reign of her colony, visiting new kindergartens as emergence began or to watch her newfound empire physically unfold. It was a rarity in the culture of Homeworld, perhaps a kind of debasing of the status of Diamond for one to involve themselves in affairs so far below them, but the fresh gems of Earth hadn't the stigma seared into them yet.

As such, the mood was jovial, and security uncharacteristically light for a Diamond. When the first drills for cracking open the colony were just being put into position, Pink paid a visit to the fringes of her planetary estate. Under an overcast sky (or however dramatically the weather is described in the salacious, whispered gossip that came in years afterward) and in front of a landscape burning slowly with desolation, Pink, her Pearl, and her Amethyst guards admired the spearhead of the colony.

Then, a curiosity happened: the humans attacked. Of course, that descriptor would seem inappropriate by any definition in more traditional circles, but Pink Diamond immediately took alert not in hostility, but in wonder. To her credit, the tribesmen were pathetic in their threat, armed mostly with shouts and pointed spears barely honed enough to even pierce flesh made of light. The Amethysts, for all their Earthborne faults in not anticipating this situation, maintained their one virtue as the attack unfolded: they obeyed even when their leader ordered them to stand down.

The humans surrounded them and threatened in their harsh tongues, but Pink gathered her consort to her and maintained a complacent air. It was quickly apparent that even if they resorted to fisticuffs, the Gem warriors towered over their primitive counterparts, heavyweight fighters set against veritable housepets. As an almost conspicuous coincidence Pink herself was seen like a living god.

But despite the imposing stature and the humans’ flighty nature, they circled and slowly closed in, ever fearful in their next step but persistent in taking it. Pink relegated herself to her knees, and somehow managed to avoid permanently scarring her authority as her warriors followed suit in silent obedience of her wishes. Once terminally close, the tribesmen snatched at the gem women with dirty fingers and ragged limbs. For the first time in the history of the Empire, a Diamond had been taken prisoner, and by natives on her own colony. Without alerting the geoforming station nearby, the entourage was violently dragged off.

Not that any search party would've had trouble finding the little village living a scratching life under the towering shadow of colonial machinery. The gems were bound in roughspun vines as makeshift manacles and marched from the canyons into a gray valley of dying vegetation. Pink Diamond regularly assured her bodyguards along the way, not asserting safety, but keeping them in check from any outburst of violence. Her tone was uncharacteristic, neither giddy or bored, or even that rare but unforgettable tenor her whole being took on when a guest disturbed her entertainment at court. Rather, it was a sort of wonder that might be confused with worry, when one truly does not know what will come next.

By evening, the group was arrayed around the tribe's campfire. The village elders and their own subordinates cheered in an unwritten tongue, having conquered their beautiful demons. By then, their trepidation had been slowly fading. Their hands poked at light-formed skin, brushed shakily through pink hair, pulled at the invisible seams of fit-form clothing, closely eyeballed perfectly (and some less perfectly) cut jewel facets. The shamans segued from speeches into sustained chanting as the humans crowded closer.

Pink Diamond continued to whisper to her allies, but rather than the calm orders she had rallied them with, she simply narrated her internal monologue, with all the wonder it directed at every action that unfolded. It was events like these that illustrated both the undying loyalty of Earth gems and the quiet dominance that Pink could exude among her closest retainers, less a leader but more a friend, sharing in the events with you, becoming an example by her reactions. It is only by that subtle sway she had cultivated in all her pet-named bodyguards and servants that what followed did not immediately end in bloodshed.

The humans began clutching at the gems, tossing to the ground and clambering around them, now transitioning almost seamlessly into a sudden violence. Even as Pink Diamond yelped in surprise, the Amethysts kept themselves obediently within their bindings, and then likewise submitted when the men began pushing them into the dirt. Their clothes were pulled at with a determination outside the curiosity of before, slowly ripping and stripping them naked as the mass of humans began grabbing for a singular goal.

This is the part where the conversation in the back corridors of Homeworld takes a pause as the questions unfurl. “What would the humans want with a gem's light form?” “Were they trying to shatter their gems?” Then the storyteller has to backtrack to an earlier factoid, uncomfortable on its retelling. This was not Pink Diamond's first encounter with humans. She had celebrated and intermingled with earlier tribes, when they could withstand certain fear to remain near her. She had already started to absorb their culture, what little they had, all of it built up around their own physicality. Just as she marveled at their own particular fashion styles formed from the corpses of animals and remains of plantlife, in hotter climates she likewise eyed their lithe bodies and ever-changing fleshy outlines.

Surprisingly, it was the dancing – not the food – that necessitated shapeshifting. She demanded her own tribal fire at court, which became an astounding, rainbow-edged, geometric advancement on (or perhaps parody of) the primitive original. When it silently sprung to life, she leapt to its edge and phased off her garments, revealing a pastel body newly shaped in curvature. She mimicked an idealized human form, pieced together from carefully studied specimens on the colony. The court marveled at her handiwork, even beyond the initial shock of such a brazen deviation from Gem perfection.

Of course, as keeping with the unwritten rules of Earth, her court followed suit. Their chests became topped with tender nipples they would never nurse with, their crotches lined with pussies of a mostly unknown internal construction, rears dotted with a tight anus. Pink Diamond let the sheer light of the fire repaint her curves and newfound deviations, delighting in its interplay as the muscles rippled under rosy skin. She danced until the eternal, artificial glow lost its luster under the brazen light of the sun, then marveled at herself again under the new illumination.

From then on, all in her court mimicked the fleshy fashion of humanity. It was not an official directive, or even an unspoken threat, but more akin to a secret in-joke. Homeworld's aversion to unnecessary shapeshifting was now regularly broken in plain sight, yet simultaneously hidden under standardized uniforms. It was a grand punchline for a small cadre that had been slowly culled down to those who would most appreciate such satire. Every communique or visit with an interstellar dignitary was followed by uproarious laughter as soon as the guests left earshot.

With the facts thus established, the circle of gossiping gems return their hands to their mouths in quiet shock, now equipped to piece together a prediction of what would unfold once returning to the original tale. Basic xenobiology rarely made it outside the halls of the scientific elite – but Pink Diamond’s regime was especially educational. The knowledge percolated throughout the empire in hushed tones, traveling from one gem to another, but its salacious context magnified its rate of spread a hundredfold.

So Pink Diamond herself was stripped bare, and what was revealed showed that despite her stature and vibrant refraction, she was just as much of the human condition as the dirt-riddled natives crowding around her. Perhaps the demon had shifted to that of a fertility goddess, or perhaps the gems were just primitively rationalized as an odd tribe encroaching upon their valley of Eden. In any case, what came next needed little rationalization.

Pink Diamond let them lay her in the dirt, the unbidden curves of her nude form once again bathed in firelight. Prodding human hands transitioned to grasping and cupping, pulling and rubbing. It took a team of two apiece to render her legs aloft, flipping around against the earth. Her hands went up instinctively, not to strike but to shield, only to let themselves slip into a tangle of securing limbs that pushed and maneuvered. Her Amethysts cried out now, demanding an explanation from their leader even as they experienced a similar manhandling, but the novelty stunned Pink into lilted stammers. The world felt wrong.

Then, they penetrated her. A chieftain, rough and with abandon. The animals relegated Gem royalty to one of their own, and soon her protectors met the same fate. The histories living on rumor demand one or two soldiers to break rank, or her Pearl to flee in alarm, while other storytellers insist the demureness of Her entourage, if not bound by duty, then by the simple shock of the unfolding trauma. But just as before, Pink's voice gave them stay, not in words but simply a pure tone wrung out as the human forced himself inside. Her eyes stretched wide and mouth ran agape. Her back arched, adding a lower tenor to her sustained note, her head guided downward by still-grasping primitives, mated for the first time.

“First” with obvious future implications. The humans hung tight and thrust in an animal rhythm. The Amethysts bellowed out sharp cries as each was penetrated in turn, voices mixing or drowning under the notes of their Diamond, who had now allowed even her voice to be enslaved by her dominant's rhythm. Debaucherous music filled the air between their cries as flesh slapped against flesh, each male a prime of their species letting their cocks strike repeatedly to the hilt.

Even as the first took their turns, the other humans readied themselves, humping or rubbing their members against the plentiful flesh of each gem, inducting them in the particular ceremonies of humanity with their heat and firmness. Pink Diamond let her captors carry on without much due wonder as the chief's body still shook against her, until finally it railed against her in an almost spiteful fury. In this way, he seeded Earth's Diamond, filling the rudimentary pocket she had shapeshifted to overflowing, before unsheathing himself and further dribbling along her thighs.

Finally the spell was broken, and Pink Diamond lurched back to look upon the man who had taken her. Concentrating less on all his barbaric form, she took in the act he had perpetrated against her, and then ran it in review again and again in her head. The humans angrily pulled against her, a vain attempt to force her back into proper prostration. The chief slowly pulled away, but the nearest male immediately took his place, shouldering away his comrades.

Pink Diamond finally broke her stabbing gaze to survey her entourage, similarly taken in varied positions of distress. They cried in mixes of anger, shame, and wonder, alternating from woman to woman. Her Pearl suffered perhaps the greatest brunt of the assault as she continued to reach out to return to her Diamond’s side only to have her resistance repeatedly restrained. She was left watching helplessly as the second cock penetrated her matron. After another sharp exhale of surprise, Pink finally spoke what would become her newfound mantra, for all the redundancy it presented in the moment.

“ _More!_ ”

If the humans understood that they could not impregnate the Gem females, they did all they could not to show it. They repeated their rounds continuously, egged on by the untiring forms of their captives, constantly aroused by colorful bodies which maintained a conquered beauty even when thrust into the dirt or spattered with ejaculate. Pink Diamond especially relished in their output, watching intently as her pussy slowly oozed with each new load.

When the crowd continued to show no signs of dispersing, and the novelty of repeated fuckings finally began to wear off, she began studying their physical forms up close. Her still-gloved hands danced along their flesh and wrapped tightly as they throbbed. When she discovered that the humans were more than happy to “mate” with her palm, the wonder returned and invigorated her. When the memories of human food and drink refreshed in her mind, she took their flesh against her tongue, delighting in a flavor completely new.

As they constantly looked to their Diamond for direction, the Amethysts slowly followed suit, regardless of their trepidations. Some were restrained down in tighter but still fairly meaningless natural manacles, while others enjoyed more freedom as they fell completely in sync with the ecstatic discoveries of their Diamond. Their meaty bodies delighted their captors, but each human still revolved between circles to partake in the flesh of the towering goddess, now laid low.

The Pearl eventually escaped to her owner, bringing her own mates along with her. Pink Diamond received her in a luxurious embrace, before quickly letting her svelte fingers hunt for her servant’s lips and spread them invitingly for their mates. In an instant, they became a pair show, a nestled duet who sang and heaved against one another, interspersed with Pink’s selfish laughter whenever her Pearl tightened her thin arms around her chest.

As evening turned sharply into deep night, the mating flitted from retributive to a more loving affair. As spent males idled away from the action, the less impulsive brutes began taking their time with their prey, pounding out slow but deep strokes into new brides. It was the plump lips of an Amethyst that invited the first deep, tongue-delving kiss, and when Pink Diamond caught it in her peripheral, she immediately leapt to its mimicry with the same humming delight she expressed for all her meals. Her obedient soldiers and servants hummed instinctively in response. The men rewarded their enthusiasm in turn.

The show reached its crescendo deep into the night, punctuated by a sharp grunt and seething energy violently transposed under the sustained “Ah!” of Pink Diamond's surprise. Her delighted notes had sent waves through her subjects each time they rang out, as they realized that for all their prostrations and attempts at entertainment, they had never once delivered such a satisfactory pleasure to their empress. Pink's pleasurable fascination with sordid acts was hardly new, but usually tinged in such an excited tone that even her enjoyment seemed plebian. But now, she sounded heavenly, almost vulnerable, subtle and sweet. Her experience, for all its physicality, had left her with a sublime satisfaction that for once felt royal. It left her audience utterly enraptured, despite all the trauma, shame, and hesitation they bottled up.

By the time exhaustion had finally set it, their bodies dripped and glistened with potent cum. Pink's curls tangled over one of her eyes like an unruly Amethyst's, while her soldiers' manes draped over their entire faces, yanked and pulled as they were throughout the night and now sticky in sweat and semen. Spent as they were, a few tribesmen were mindful to attend to the remaining technical aspects of the ambush. The women were slowly pulled forth and fresh fibrous rope tangled along their extremities, and then lined up for solemn display among a scattering of unhewn totems embedded into the ground.

With the rites completed, the last humans retired for the night, leaving the gems to suffer prostrated under moonlight, until the new day would demand another offering, or perhaps sacrifice. But as the night filled with the rough scattering of snoring primitives, Pink Diamond finally dropped the act, speaking almost proudly to her compatriots in captivity: “That was amazing,” she panted. She let her chest continue to heave and pulse, permanently delighting now in mimicking the action. “We've just _mated_ , with humans!” She continued, in an excitedly naïve, squeaking whisper.

The night dragged on a few moments more before Pink Diamond finally allowed old duties to take precedence. Effortlessly she stood up, shattering the pathetic vines and branches that held her, and quickly joined her guardswomen. With an uncaring stride, she simply walked out of the village, briefly eyeing the sleeping forms of men and heretofore unseen women and children as they sheltered in the shadows under makeshift homes of leaves and animal skins.

The sight emerging from the wilderness that met the gem technicians (still wondering where their Diamond had suddenly deviated her inspection to) was nothing short of dumbfounding. The Amethysts nearly hung off each other as they marched behind their Diamond, both draped in mere scraps of stained rags and their bodies splotched with dust, mud, and unmentionable fluids. Her Pearl was practically carried along in a half-embrace phrased as comforting but with a certain selfish exploration, as fingers silently brushed up and down her form at an almost imperceptible pace.

Pink Diamond herself beamed, in the delighted way only she could, as if the stars themselves filled her eyes. As the gossip goes, the reactions of her entourage are a bit harder to pin down. Some say they were a mix of trauma and horror, but as the nature of the Earth colony later showed, this telling could just as easily been a projection of Homeworld fears. Some say they were merely haggard, or perhaps confused, and still others assert that like their Diamond, they too smiled impeccably despite their physical state of duress.

Or even more, they were practically glowing. Whether a figurative embellishment or a more literal retelling, neither can be certain. What's important to know is that all stories of the Earth colony take on the hue of the court of the gem who tells it. The peculiarity is this: gems under Blue Diamond had learned to fear the crushing force of Her empathic Will, unleashed whenever she lashed out at a failing gem. Thus they felt themselves in a familiar position when questions arose over whether Pink Diamond's sway over her gems was purely a matter of charisma, or if perhaps she had her own “glow” to spread amongst them, either openly or in a silent, invisible subversion.

Shortly thereafter, the technicians working in the drill’s sector were summarily shattered. Pink Diamond cited a grossly negligent ignorance to their surroundings, with no further explanation as to what they were ignorant _of_. Their replacements were disrupted the next day by a group of hostile humans who had not yet moved on after construction began, which were then exterminated to prevent distractions.

* * *

“And the fun never really stopped,” Pink said, trying to make the parallel to her story plainly clear. In recounting her tale, the entire court had taken on a sanguine mood. Pink’s Pearl had slithered her way astride the arm of the Diamond’s throne, leaning in terminally close and ready to steal a kiss. The guards similarly seemed to hang off each other, the heat between them invisible yet obviously apparent. “You did have _fun_ down there, right, Jasper?”

Hours of intensity flashed back in Jasper’s imagination. For some reason, in the midst of her memories, she wondered what Pink Diamond would look like had she been bent and prostrated in her place instead. The shape of her mouth pursed into a shapely ‘O’ seared itself into Jasper’s mind.

“I asked you a question, Jasper.” Of all the things she could be silent for, she hated that that particular distraction was what had created her downfall. But before she was forced to answer, forced to choose between painful truth or a humiliating lie, Pink Diamond spared her. “Oh, nevermind.” Pink brushed along the bottom edges of her hair, letting her expression sink away into casual disdain after her meandering, self-indulgent tale.

“Back to the matter at hand. _Jasper_? I have heard so much about you today. About how perfect of a gem you are. How it’s _so nice_ that I _finally_ have someone worthy of my radiant possession.”

“Yes, my Diamond.”

“I think, you’re boring. Pointlessly. Boring.” The corners of her mouth tightened until they ran white. “The exact same, faceted copy trotted out every single day in the pristine, uniform, perfect lines of Homeworld, and you bore me.” Pink Diamond tapped her slipper against the foot of her throne to lend a beat to each verb. “Or at least, you did.”

Jasper’s shoulders drooped reflexively.

“See, the first time I heard about you, I wanted you shattered. For everything I’ve done, somehow, it still seems,” Pink paused as she settled her feet flat on the floor, “that some people think I _need_ someone like you. And what better way to send the message that they’re wrong than to throw away my brand new toy?”

A wet drip landed on the floor, the proverbial pin-drop inside an icy tomb.

“But that wouldn’t have been fair to you, would it, Jasper? And honestly, I’m glad I waited, because when I saw you? It gave me such, a much more, impressive idea, hm? Shattering you is just a return to the status quo. Back to zero. Nothing new. Same old boring.” Pink Diamond stepped down from her throne, back to the spot where that very first kiss was delivered. Jasper remained solidified under her.

“I _hate_ boring,” Pink griped. “But now, I get to send a _better_ message. You - are going to be my pinnacle, my absolute prized possession. And I’m going to waste you. Less than nothing, less than not needing you, in fact: you’ll be more trouble than you’ll ever be used for. Or at least…” Pink slipped her thumb past a lock of Jasper’s hair and pulled it aside. “That’s how everyone else will see it.”

Jasper looked up at her, eyes shimmering. The thumb slid to her bottom lip

“Your undying loyalty, your boring perfection? That is the same thing that will make you pleasurable to me,” she lingered on the syllable, brushing upwards towards Jasper’s gem. “You’ll be my entertainment. My jester.” Her thumb stroked along the razor edges. “My permanent human ‘caretaker’. And you’re never going to question it, because you’re _perfect_.” Pink Diamond leaned down into a familiar stoop. “Would you like me to kiss you, my Jasper?”

“Yes, my Diamond,” Jasper answered like a death rattle. The Empress hummed out a chuckle behind her lips as she drifted down.

* * *

Although thousands of different court diversions passed in and out of Pink Diamond’s favor over the centuries, Jasper remained a permanent fixture well after human sexual relations passed from novelty into merely old pastime. Her court obligations evolved little beyond private or public displays of her “zookeeping” duties, but they hardly needed to. An impromptu show as such in the middle of a seemingly ordinary noble audience served as the perfect shock to the system for any visiting entourage. Even for those unversed in xenobiology, the act had more than the obvious amount of scandal, and it only multiplied from their initial impressions of the powerful and statuesque Jasper standing at the pink throne’s side, until the moment she was called to her knees or onto her back.

Occasionally, Pink Diamond would test her limits, only to land in a mix of pride and disgust when Jasper dutifully remained. In recent events, she dawdled upon those first memories with a brand new twist. Really, it was the fault of the kindergarteners once more for this refreshing parody, having long since learned or been replaced by those who understood Pink’s true wishes. When Facet 5 generated its first new soldier in millennia, they repeated an old celebration, knowing now it would make for the perfect parody.

But Pink Diamond received the news coldly this time, postponing the debut of the new arrival repeatedly, leaving the overseers once again guessing at her whims. Then again, predictability was rarely one of them. But once schedules revealed a Homeworld consort’s visit to Pink’s domain, everybody got the joke. Amethyst Facet-5, Cut-8XM was introduced to court with little ceremony or preparation, an overrunning embarrassment as diplomats questioned her awkward behavior and offensive stature. She was shepherded away mid-participation to don limb enhancers, but the social damage had been done. If anything, the sloppy attempt to repair the image of some common, runtish soldier – whose arrival seemed hardly justified in the first place – only made the affront worse.

As Amethyst stood, tight, awkward, and quietly distraught in the wings of the audience, Pink’s Pearl announced a closing of the festivities, inviting all in the ball’s attendance to enjoy Pink Diamond’s final address. The punchline was obvious: the humiliated, overcooked Amethyst would serve as her Grand Inquisitor, a diplomatically immune officer in charge of rooting out seditious elements operating inside her entire stellar territory. Starting immediately. Pink Diamond presented her with a specially forged whip as a symbol of her new office, only for Amethyst to gleefully reply that she already had one.

* * *

The second joke played out later, when the initial shockwave and its aftereffects were finally disposed of. Jasper, the lowly staple of Pink’s court, was transferred to Amethyst as a dutiful subordinate. Pink didn’t go as far as to remove her from her inner clique, but encouraged the Inquisitor to push the boundaries nonetheless. Jasper had also unwittingly taught Amethyst what became her favorite recreational activity, resulting in the two often “indulging” in tandem.

The laughter rang on between her ears, like a little voice that wouldn’t go away.

“Ready for another round, Jasp?” Amethyst’s own partner was just beginning to finish off inside her ass, but the pace barely even registered in her voice.

Jasper huffed as her own suitor withdrew. Her actual answer was still relegated to a simple grunt.

“Thought so. I promised Pink I would show her some choice bits after we got back.” Amethyst snuggled her cheek into the soft Zoo turf. Jasper clawed into the soil, trying to bury her frustration. “You know, you oughta ask her for a new job,” Amethyst continued, looping a finger around a loose curl of her cohort’s hair. “She’d love to see a lil’ free will out of you. A little _fight_. I bet you’d make a great soldier.”

Jasper let herself fall forward off her knees, flat along the grassy hill. The air felt cool over clammy skin, and the ground like an old lover’s silken lips.

“I,” she murmured, half into the dirt, “am the perfect soldier.”

“Uh huh, sure you are,” Amethyst said idly, turning over to beckon the next passing group of humans. “You were practically made for it, sis.”

* * *

Pink Diamond’s regime began as a temporarily doting parallel to that of the other tetrarchs. But once Pink’s mimicry of particular human actions became the newest fad among her court, a more peculiar style in her rule also emerged. With the start of construction on the Zoo station, her touch could eventually be felt everywhere on Earth, slowly replacing the engrained culture of the Empire. The difference was concentrated at its apex, but every whim eventually filtered down to its fringes.

Just one example: during a royal session to celebrate the foundational tethering of the Zoo to Earth’s orbit, Pink Diamond suddenly began feigning ignorance. Not one known for subtlety, she politely asked two Jades of her court to kindly demonstrate the mating rituals of her human diversions for her own remembrance. It was in that moment that the audience, and soon the entire colony learned that the off-color caste, if not condition, could be inflicted.

Everyone in attendance memorized subsequent events. Not that they needed a reminder on how to fuck, but the duet in question had long been disfavored, a peculiar choice of attendees for Pink’s domain given their traditionalist attitudes and continuing abstinence from the Diamond’s previous perversions. The explanation that had developed was that they enjoyed such a privilege simply because she enjoyed embarrassing them as an audience, but now the idea had reached a violent crescendo. The two sobbed as they merged each other’s unspoiled flesh. Prompted by their Diamond, the audience joined in on her cackling at the lurid show, volume rising with every awkward thrust or accidental recoil.

But the lesson did not fully sink in until the next court assembly, when the Jades suddenly reappeared at Pink Diamond’s side, her now more coveted possessions. Albeit still tinged with humiliation, their meteoritic rise through the noble ranks just as well inspired a palpable air of jealousy to which Pink further fed upon. Even her Pearl could not hide her envy when Pink’s fingers would invasively nuzzle around a Jade’s thigh instead of her own. The trickle of rumor and opinion out of aristocracy then exploded into a torrent, and for whatever knowledge a new gem did not gain when she popped out of the ground, she was quickly indoctrinated by her sisters into becoming a true Earthling.

To the rest of the empire, the orbital Zoo was played off as another stellar facility of generic purpose, but also a demonstration of Pink’s desires made real, which thus averted it to the eyes of the other doting Diamonds. Similarly, Pink blamed the halting of major progress on the Earth colony due to her particularly inept batch of off-color workers. Of course, many nobles had their own access to off-world communications with which to sound the alarm, but as long as Pink Diamond herself espoused otherwise, and her loyalist backers gave her credence, their cries were seen as nothing more than disruptive. They were summarily reported horizontally to their authoritarian peers.

To prove she was tackling the off-color problem, and as a favor to her military experiments, Pink sent their shards to Yellow Diamond. Of course, their actual sources would be impossible to distinguish. The empire would simply have to take Pink at her word. Shattering is the great equalizer of any court. For Pink, it made her rule unquestioned on Earth and beyond. The centuries thus unfolded as one might expect, despite every surprise the Earth seemed to hold. The story, the planet, the regime, was the epitome of a disaster: mistakes layered atop each other until ruin slipped through like a dagger through the joints of an iron shell.

While collective consciousness had seemingly agreed that the womb of the Earth was to blame for everything that transpired, a dark, quiet shade of guilt still permeated the Empire. Nobody dared to remember back farther, or retell any earlier story. No one could blame a Diamond for the end's beginning. Even if they did, it would only delay logic another step to the same, but much darker conclusion: the planet was polluted, malformed, and corrupted.

All that changed was that the planet in question would be Homeworld.


	2. Depravity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a Sapphire and her guard are sent to Earth to help with an ever-growing off-color population, they become the center of attention in a violent introduction to the true nature of Pink Diamond's court. But just how unchangeable is fate, really?

For a while, things took a docile tone. Earth's dying was slowed, but its legacy was being permanently preserved in a habitat especially adapted for Humanity and Pink Diamond's entertainment. Gem production was still dysfunctional, but as the colony was sure to continue, the allure of riches and replacements assuaged bureaucratics’ worries. Moreover, as the population of off-colors had been segregated to Earth in particular, the Empire's infection had been contained to a point where it could maintain an air of plausible deniability.

It was Pink herself who suggested that if off-colors were discovered elsewhere, they could be transferred to Earth for additional slave labor, to be replaced by capable Earth gems at a later date. This obtuse work plan was unusual but promising, and adeptly hid its side effect of seeding the empire at large with gems loyal to Pink Diamond and her sensibilities, like cultural sleeper agents. All this led to another inflection point, although its effects were quite quaint compared to its magnitude as another story that filled the secret curiosities of gem minds forever.

In return for Pink's colony already beginning to pay back to the Empire, the other Diamonds saw fit to continue subsidizing it with labor and materials as necessary. In particular, Blue Diamond sent an especially picked Sapphire, along with her escort. Their intended goal was to solve the off-color problem where previous kindergarteners had continually failed, looking into the future to see which facets proved foolhardy and which would finally give Pink the Flawless division she had long missed out on. Due to stalled production while constructing the Grand Zoo, Pink's own Sapphires had yet to emerge.

Thus the representative of Blue Diamond arrived to an uncharacteristically docile instance of Pink's court, hosted on one her more resplendent fortresses: the Cloud Arena. A slab of perfectly balanced crystal suspended imposingly over otherwise pristine landscape, its dark interior hovered like an ever-present storm on the horizon. The nobility lounged around the floating glass sea and quietly cavorted, eyeing the visiting Sapphire and her Rubies with a smug and knowing air, or in a rare look of well-placed worry. But the food, the pets, the wild dancing had been set aside, wordlessly but in perfect lock-step with Pink Diamond's will.

Her Ruby escorts let tiny smiles betray their pride as their Sapphire laid out her precise predictions. The remainder of the Lambda kindergarten would emerge intact. The sea trench kindergarten would be overpressurized and disappointing. The Earth's sandstone canyons would be direly imperfect, even if their walls were carefully hewn and managed, save for one exceptional gem. The Citrines of facet 13 would number few, but emerge particularly grand.

Pink Diamond nodded gently at each summation with a sharp smirk roofed by a half-lidded gaze. She would occasionally send a glance to her Pearl who documented the Sapphire's instructions in a particular shorthand, and who in turn returned the look in a slightly exaggerated copy. As Sapphire finished, she let the polite but gently pleased cadence of her voice turn up a single octave in her final punctuation. With all she had given, Earth could be transformed into the astounding population it had always promised to be, albeit with the exceedingly careful application of injectors and zoning.

Where her hair simply obscured hers, the Rubies let their eyes close in a demure satisfaction at the preciseness of the report. It had the side effect of blinding them to the eye-toothed smiles the court gave in return. Pink Diamond hummed an affirmative response as her last hidden thought completed itself, before repeating it in word. “Thank you so much for your predictions, my Clarity.”

“The pleasure was all mine, my Diamond,” Sapphire acknowledged, almost excitedly, intoxicated by the pleasantries that pervaded Pink's court and the conclusion of another well-delivered prediction.

“I'm sure,” Pink replied, her tone cut in half. She leaned towards the side and supported her head against pointed finger and thumb, and hummed a few barely-audible notes of music to accentuate her continued thought. The pause left the court silent, but cozy. Sapphire eagerly awaited her next orders, hoping to be as beneficial as possible before her assured return to Blue Diamond's entourage.

“I have an idea,” Pink finally broke in, turning up the lilt to her voice. “It's so rare for us to have visitors. The activities get stale without any new faces.” She let her eyes trace a path out towards her other subjects, who returned it with a practiced, subtle smile, each one growing imperceptibly. “Why don't you entertain us?”

“That's a wonderful idea, my Diamond,” Sapphire replied, still submerged in her eagerness. “Perhaps I could sing?”

Pink Diamond closed her eyes and suppressed a chuckle. She brushed aside a phantom in the air with her off-hand. “Oh, we get plenty of that around here already.” The ring of distant smiles slightly grew. Pink's Pearl had the biggest but still subdued reaction, her glance locked towards the side to her liege and her fangs slipping out under a mischievous grin. Pink Diamond rested back against her palm and hummed another thought experiment, before growing wide-eyed in a small burst of eureka.

“Ooh, I know! We can watch you fuse!”

Sapphire nodded, internally impressed by such a quaint and novel idea, yet still the kind of entertainment that was just a little more active than that found in Blue's court shows. “An even more wonderful idea.” She turned back towards her Rubies, each already beaming at a chance for activity in an assignment that likely offered only bland and uncomplicated duty. To be a Ruby putting on a show for a Diamond, and at what they do best. Somehow, they restrained themselves to make only a short step closer to one another, mostly an idle motion as they had already snapped themselves to attention as soon as they had placed themselves. “Rubies, if you would be so kind as t-”

“Not them. You.”

Sapphire darted into a turn. “What?”

“You. You should fuse,” Pink Diamond clarified. Pearl's grin unfurled, but her Diamond kept a subtler air. The surrounding nobles took on a colder tone, dimming slightly into an attention of indiscernible intent. Sapphire turned to look at them, first to understand their reaction but then in a quick search for comfort, that turned up nothing.

“I don't... I mean, with who?” Sapphire immediately felt a tiny pang of impropriety. Fusing among one's caste was more or less acceptable, but the idea of nobility finding it necessary, for entertainment or otherwise, was uncomfortably unusual. In her confusion, she had already accepted that as the premise, only to be corrected again.

“With your Rubies,” Pink Diamond deadpanned, letting a bored expression slowly take over. Her gaze bounced for a moment before she pointed an idle finger towards the middle of the group. “That one.”

The Rubies' composure had so far dropped only to match their Sapphire's, but at this directive they all but broke rank. The two in the wings darted a step over as if their middle compatriot had suddenly let out an obscene shout, and she in turn gave double-takes as they began abandoning her until her gaze settled back on her escort. Sapphire stared at her guard, mouth agape, comprehension still eluding her.

“I...” Sapphire paused, before regrouping and turning back. “I'm not sure-”

“Not sure about what?” Pink interrupted in a feigned curiosity, dispersing the small vestige of courage Sapphire had managed to scramble up. She then left the clairvoyant in the social silence to piece together every following syllable alone.

“I-I, I'm not... I don't think, it would... it would be, be proper, my Diamond.” The unchosen Rubies had continued stepping away, beckoned by some invisible force calling from the flanks. The remainder was left with nothing but a distinct chill in the air.

“Excuse me?” Pink Diamond asked again, a voice raised only slightly, yet piercing through the silence like a ringing bell.

“M-my Diamond, w-we, I, I mean-”

“Sapphire.” Pink Diamond tilted her head forward, a disappointed glance letting her plumes of cotton candy hair hang low. She pursed her lips for a moment before dissipating the tightened features of her face, concentrating their subtleties under her slightly furrowed brow. What followed came in a stern monotone, words unclenched only to let their underlying mercy hold them back.

“You are a guest in my court. In my colony. In my presence. You were very privileged to be allowed attendance by your Diamond,” Pink stated, accentuating the last words slightly to let the irony sink in, before returning to her previous pace. “It is very prestigious to be invited, too. And yet despite that, I ask very, very little from the gems in my court. You've already proven yourselves enough to simply be here. Haven't you?”

“Yes, my Diamond,” Sapphire replied, her speaking confidence shored up by the formality of the conversation, even as its direction continued.

“Are you not grateful?”

“I am, my Diamond.”

“Do you not wish to please me?”

“I do, my Diamond,” Sapphire continued, but when the pause allowed her, added, “but-”

“But what?”

Sapphire winced as if stung. She could feel the eyes of the audience searing into her skin, along with the quivering gaze of her Ruby. “But I don't think Homeworld would ap-”

“You. Are not. On Homeworld,” Pink Diamond verbally hammered out, a low rumble accompanying her suddenly booming voice. Her face furrowed with lines usually invisible on her placid visage, now tightened into daggers around a piercing glare. Sapphire clutched along the hem of her dress, bowing her head slightly as if she were ready to hide. Her lips trembled but for all her demure experience at court, she could hold back the tears. She was silently happy that her Ruby was not asked, that she could not bear to see the lowborn fall apart to a Diamond's lecture.

Pink let the words linger in the air until it was clear Sapphire would neglect to return an affirmation, but rather than let her offense grow, her eyes relaxed and she shifted back on her throne. Her Pearl tilted her nose upward in a stone visage, as if the subjects before her were dead in her mind. The Diamond then continued, softening her voice once more. “You are a guest on my Earth. I know what is and isn't approved of here.” She traced a hand back to her cheek, a finger idly pointed towards her brow. “Because I approve it.”

Sapphire loosened but still kept a wave of cloth in her grip.

“Understand?”

“Yes, my Diamond,” her Clarity responded, most of her courtly manner finally replacing her old quaking voice.

“Then fuse for us,” Pink Diamond repeated, tilting her foot out towards the crowd, in a reminder of their existence and thirst for either excitement or blood. Sapphire retightened her grip. Her Ruby could not help but reach out slightly, so desperately wanting to grasp Sapphire's shoulder in comfort, but could not fight against the impropriety. Her eyes felt wet, and they cooled in an air that was now decidedly frigid.

Pink shifted her weight again and lounged back fully in her throne, a smirk regenerating on her face as if she had been validated. As the next few moments of silence went on unbroken by agreement, she slowly descended into a bored expression, before suddenly springing into a ferocious exhilaration.

“NOW.”

Sapphire wheeled around instantly as if she had been struck. Ruby instinctively withdrew a half step back, but then re-doubled and hoped no one had noticed. She still hung her hands in the air, anxiously wanting to take Sapphire into a protective squeeze.

“Very well, my Diamond,” Sapphire finally said, whispering so as to hide the stuffiness that would've filled her broken voice. She had to constrain all her efforts to avoid a sudden outburst. In failing to keep her composure, her mind had started racing toward a new reality, and in place of frightened obedience, her thoughts suddenly harbored an offended air. This was an insult. Even from a Diamond, it would stain her court forever. Blue Diamond would never let one of her closest own, an extension of her very self, suffer this kind of indignation. Not without retribution.

The future held so many possibilities. Even if she could not predict which one would fall into place, its multitude held out hope, or even vengeance. She straightened herself on this instant rationalization, and calmly extended a tender gloved hand. “Come, Ruby.” The guard felt a shudder of recoil again, although expertly hidden, as Sapphire's businesslike tone almost matched the cruel tinge of Pink Diamond's.

Ruby wanted to glance out into the audience for approval, but simultaneously felt their judgment locking her into an unshakable attention to her charge. Her own hands pulled back into loose fists, no longer brave enough to take a comforting hold, but fell open again as the inevitable proceeded.

“Yes, my Clarity,” she replied, the first syllables half-filled with soldier-like determination, but when her voice failed it spun out into a second shamed whisper. She still hesitated a moment, as it suddenly felt as if the trauma had erased all her memories of fusion. The world left her thrashing in uncharted waters. She so wanted to say as much, to apologize for her sudden ignorance, before realizing that doing so would mean a dire pain beyond simply shame.

Ruby forced herself to walk until she could place her hand entwined with Sapphire's. The first touch felt like a shock, a mistake, and she realized that with the other Rubies, fusion to her was much more of a combative affair, if not instinctual. By contrast, she had no idea what this was supposed to be. But committing this far, it was impossible to retreat. When she actually took up Sapphire's hand, she realized that it had not been a mental jolt, but real frostbite. She braved the icy touch, even as Sapphire calmly brought up her other hand for Ruby to take.

They stood close together, two small figures briefly tied in a frozen dance. Every movement felt improvised, but also intuitive. Ruby took a gentle step towards the right, and Sapphire reciprocated. With a little pull she swayed back, and her escort followed again. Something inside was yelling at her to hurry, to fear Pink Diamond's impatience, but the ruler maintained her composure amid a patronizing glare. Ruby spotted her grim smirk over Sapphire's shoulder, and so returned her gaze to the icy blue hair hovering over beautiful lips.

The temperature in Ruby's hands equalized. They felt an itch, and when another robotic step provided a moment's pause, they drifted from Sapphire's grasp, which relented easily after only a minor pull. Ruby traced her fingers gently under Sapphire's bangs, peeling away her disguise. Underneath was a fantastically blue, solitary eye. It was drenched and tight, reflections quivering over a distorted window. It was as if Sapphire herself did not realize she was crying until now, and when the light met her brow, she let out a sharp, feeble inhale that only they could hear.

Ruby stared in shock, both at the traumatic distinction but also at the noble's beauty. Her hand lingered in a string of hair before slowly replacing itself along Sapphire's side. The oracle reciprocated, letting a wave of surprise fall against her as uselessly as the breeze. But it caught Ruby as she made her next step, and suddenly her own gasp fell out of her, slowed until it could stretch out into eternity. The next movements continued to be automatic, but from an interminable pace they doubled to something that was merely incredibly slow, and then just sluggish.

Ruby lost herself in Sapphire's gaze, until the cold gem abruptly blinked away, and the soldier realized that she was embarrassing her. But suddenly that urge to comfort and hold returned, and took over. This was her duty. This was her gem. Her Sapphire. She was supposed to be ready to do anything for her, and in an instant, she was. She pressed her forehead against Sapphire's, a physical clench best described as a suppression of a scream. In that instant, all either of them could notice was a blinding light.

The high-pitched hum shattered the silence of the court, until it fell apart into a lingering chime, followed by a discordant scattering of steps as a lumbering soul lost her balance in the middle of an empty stage, and then the tight gasps of an audience suddenly broken from its trance.

The first thing she fixated on, strangely enough, were her hands. Strange because so much of the world begged her attention, and yet she was distracted by anatomy she was intimately aware of. Her gems reflected eagerly in the light like they always had, until she realized just how extremely alien it was to pluralize that sentiment. She was like a child in an adult's ungainly body, a consciousness enslaved by a dreamlike logic. Her actions followed an internal, rational monologue, but one she could not hear.

Then she woke up. As she stared at her gems, her train of unthought derailed as a cacophony erupted. She looked around the audience to see how many were partaking in such uproarious laughter, only to see each face twisted into frozen, silent disgust. It was only when she had traced her gaze back upwards that she realized that the guffaws belonged to Pink Diamond alone. Even her Pearl could not break her sneer long enough to join in on her liege's pleasure.

The fusion felt a shot of embarrassment, then rage, then fear, then abandonment, and every other sickening feeling one could inflict. In an instant responding to a prior eternity, it scattered her apart, until she blinked her eye or her eyes and realized she was Ruby or she was Sapphire once more. Still, Pink Diamond continued her upheaval.

Sapphire shook against her knees as she tried to stand back up, but the freezing weight of her feelings had returned tenfold. She felt too confused to sob, but her breath nonetheless took on an uncontrollable staccato pattern as she struggled against the tightness in her throat. Ruby felt it infecting her as well, but as she picked herself up, magma filled rhetorical veins. After a few moments of listening to the mix of choked exhales and distant cackles, she felt nothing could be more appropriate: with a rigid thrust, she contorted herself into a two-handed salute across her chest, and closed her eyes in quiet, proud, supremely infuriated accomplishment. All Sapphire could manage was to wring at her skirt once again.

After a dozen seconds, Pink Diamond's laughter had finally started to die down, only to reignite when she broke in with her first moment of commentary. “That was _ridiculous_!” The air of the room seemed to change around her, and even her Pearl could bear to paint her disgust with a small upturn on her lips now. “You should've seen yourselves!” Pink continued after catching her breath, before a sudden realization made her correct herself. “Your SELF!”

The scene looped once again from the beginning as Pink delighted herself back into a frenetic hilarity. “That silly splotch of hair! That stupid outfit,” she described in her play-by-play. “You looked so confused! Like a, like a...” she trailed off, before snickering as she turned to her Pearl. “Oh, what did she look like, Pearl?”

“Like a human, my Diamond?”

“No, no, stupider! Those things they keep around, you know, the...?”

“Oh, like a dog!” Pearl announced almost proudly, to which Pink clapped one hand to her mouth and pounded the arm of her throne with the other. When her delight finally began to run out, she directed her gaze back to Sapphire and Ruby, which only triggered her laughter once again. In each fit, the court had started a chain of sustained whispers, only to die into silent expressions of shock as Pink calmed down. On the final subside, she shifted back on her throne into a relaxed lean, holding her head in her hand so as to constrain the remnants of her chuckles down to a bubbling hum.

“Thank you, Sapphire,” she finally sang out in an overly-charming lilt.

Sapphire was so solemn as to be inaudible. Her Ruby maintained a starkly dutiful pose.

Pink let out another sharp hum and then sank her cheek deeper against her palm. “But you know, I wonder.” She tapped her crossed feet, one flitting through the air while the other punctuated her last two words. “What would Blue Diamond think about this?”

When Sapphire remained silent, the Pearl chimed in with a sly look that betrayed secret cooperation. “She'd be disgusted, my Diamond.”

“Why wouldn't she be? We were all having such a fun, polite time in court,” Pink paused as she extended a finger out from under her cheek to point towards the two subjects, “and then you have to go and make a mockery of it.” Ruby's eyes snapped open from her statuesque pose. Sapphire's eye followed, half-shrouded by ruffled locks of distressed hair. “She'd probably want me to shatter you just to make it up to me.”

Sapphire made a half step forward, although still in a half-bow, letting the anger take back over her now. “But you said-”

“And I said what, exactly? That you should nauseate my entire entourage? Or that you should just spit in my face?” Pink shifted her frame to grip the arms of her throne as her accusations grew. “Did you fear I would have you executed for not putting on a little show? That I am _that much_ of a petty tyrant? Or do you have so little dignity that you'd just as rather shame your entire court?” Pink's tone had shifted now, running from the familiar gamut of dramatized anger now to something more deep-seated, a real revulsion. “Wouldn't you prefer to die with a little self-respect anyway?”

“My Diamond,” Ruby suddenly interjected, with Sapphire instantly wheeling around to urge her to stop, although still not nearly in time. Her predictive vision had been blinded. “She didn't-”

“ _She_ didn't _ask_ you.” Pink leapt up from her throne to her full stature, her stomp echoing with a dark tone of finality. “ _I_ didn't ask you. Nobody asked you to _speak_ , and certainly nobody wanted you to make a embarrassment of this court as _you_ have done.”

Ruby kept herself locked into her salute, if only to keep from balling her fists. As Pink lectured, she wanted to scream. Scream that it wasn’t fair. She held back only because their audience would think she were defending herself, rather than Sapphire. The latter still looked at her plaintively, urging her to weather the storm, even if Sapphire herself wasn’t sure they could survive it.

“I’ve been away from Homeworld for a while now,” Pink continued, closing her eyes as her fingers pinched the bridge of her nose. “Is this the manner a noble and her ‘entourage’ are supposed to cavort themselves?” Pink’s tone ducked in and out of a peculiar accent, as if a parody of a prototypical noble or dignitary, but whatever comedy there might’ve been died as soon as the words unfurled from her fuming visage. The fury kept either of the offending gems from mustering a response. When Ruby’s gaze met Pink’s as she looked up again, she could swear the Diamond was holding something back; as if something in Ruby’s expression was prompting another round of laughter. In trying to decipher this, Ruby finally realized how furrowed and taut her own expression had become. Her mouth felt sore from clenching so hard.

“Whatever,” Pink deadpanned, relaxing as she did. “You may be allowed to behave this way elsewhere, but it’s your behavior on _my_ colony that matters.” Pink twirled her hand in a careless pivot whose rhythm matched her words, as if brushing away an insect. Then her head tilted forward and an unnatural smirk carved itself across her face. She pivoted her upturned hand again before clenching her fingers into a crushing fist. “You will be broken for this.”

The court came alive for the first time in the entire affair, a surrounding mass of soldiers, diplomats, servants, and aristocrats marching on its prey. Ruby’s shock left her capable of staring back at their silent rage and nothing more. In the back of her mind, she wondered where the other two Rubies had fled, and then furiously realized that if given the choice, she’d happily shatter them for their cowardice than take their place right now.

It was only one of the more colorful thoughts within the whirlwind inside her head. Suddenly the entire storm fell apart as an icy hand seized upon her wrist and effortlessly sent her flying. Ruby had barely taken the time to realize it was her Clarity racing them both toward the arena’s edge before she began screaming, “Waaaaaiiiit!” Even in the midst of what was quickly becoming outright combat, she could still fathom an end where her life could be sacrificed to rescue her Sapphire.

Just as suddenly as the escape had begun, another sheer jerk brought them to a standstill, and a sharp outburst from Sapphire simultaneously ended Ruby’s wail. With her wrist still locked in Sapphire’s right grasp, their off hands were wrenched back as Pink Diamond’s titanic grip sealed around them both. The hold left Sapphire awkward and twisted, forced to face their attacker while being unwilling to let go of her escort. They were both gawking at the Empress’s eyes, which beamed with a sick satisfaction sat over a wolfish grin. It would still be a few moments before fear would usurp the two’s surprise at the Diamond’s instantaneous leap.

“ _Where do you think you’re going_?” Pink crooned, words like scalpels pushing slowly into helpless flesh. Her joy at this outcome was unquestionable now. As the rest of the court raced forward to join them, they could do no more than exchange their particular looks of raw emotion. Just before the mass would be upon all three, Ruby mustered a soldier’s instinct, clenched her fist, and wrenched a solidifying gauntlet from Sapphire’s clasp. It would’ve been one last, fitting moment of revenge and rebellion, but in her mind the attack came from the same instinctual, unthinking place that one fights an ambushing predator.

Just as quickly as her swing began, Ruby felt her body lift into another irresistible pull, initiating a second wail from her. Pink’s grip swerved upward with the two in tow, allowing them to swing helplessly in a weightless moment before effortlessly careening them back down. The unnatural shape of an elegant despot twisting and stooping in brutal repose and riposte was the last thing Ruby could think of before it all went black.

* * *

The dark did not lift instantaneously. It took Ruby a moment to realize that she had reformed minutes ago, but in the senseless depth a renewed existence felt the same as eternal sleep. She had already been hypnotized by the unfamiliar ambience of rainwater dripping against implacable stone, before she even realized its echo existed. From there, the cold embrace of a stone floor came to her senses, just before the recognition that whatever reality surrounded her, it was not the afterlife for a pile of shards.

She sat up against the frigid dark, chasing away her daze. She clenched at her gem, remembering a certain task she had set for it before losing the chance. Feeling the corners of its facets, she let it warm with a gentle light, before casting its beam upward to finally bring illumination. The surroundings didn’t reveal much except sheer corners: black stone set in at a claustrophobic depth, but whose height sprung interminably upwards. She let her eyes thoughtlessly follow the converging lines, also at the behest of tracing a source for the soft patter that continued to drone. She found it in a tiny alcove of a window, which by its almost invisible blue tint she could tell was from an Earthen night sky. Ruby stared at it, measuring its mere inches mentally against herself.

Suddenly, something caught her attention, although it was silent and motionless in its distraction. Ruby swung her gemlight down low as she wheeled around, until it illuminated rich blue silk and a gentle cyan mane. 

“Sapphire!” Ruby shouted, instinctively wanting to break into a run, although she was barely a half step forward before she suddenly felt much too close within the confined walls.

“Hello, Ruby,” the noble replied with a tenor mostly identical to her particular monotone, but subdued enough that it also became a sick kind of satire. Her gaze acknowledged Ruby, but even back behind the mop of hair, it could be understood that she couldn’t look her in the eye. She sat against the back wall underneath the excuse of a window that seemed miles above, half-heartedly clutching her knees against her chest. The pink light of Ruby’s gem gave her an unnatural paleness that seemed apropos.

Ruby wanted to respond with overzealous relief, but the scene in front of her cut the feeling short. In turn, the two simply remained inside the silence between activity. It was a pattern that had suddenly seemed to take over their entire lives. Sapphire eventually broke it by pulling herself even tighter together, before quietly letting her voice eke out on the hope that nobody in the universe would hear her.

“I’m sorry, Ruby.”

“It’s not your fault,” she immediately cried, taking another shocked half-step forward. “Pink Diamond was-”

“That’s not what I meant,” Sapphire interrupted, allowing her volume to creep up while her deathly monotone remained. Ruby let the silence steal the rest of her words, but lifted up an unsure hand towards her charge. She pivoted her jeweled palm so as to bounce the light against the floor and eliminate the chance that it would pierce Sapphire’s eye, in all the comfort she could grant the oracle amidst desolation. “I should have seen this.”

“What?” Ruby whispered, matching Sapphire.

“I should have seen this would happen.” She brushed slowly and aimlessly at the hem of her dress. “I failed to do the one thing I was made to do. And now I’m going to be shattered for it.” Sapphire suddenly brought a gloved hand up to press the hair tight against her face, as if readying herself for the hysterics to force her to helplessly yank it out. “I’m just sorry I dragged you into this with me.”

“Sapphire, we…we couldn’t have known this would happen.”

“You saw her. You saw Pink Diamond. The way she acted. The way she felt. She can hide it well enough from anyone else.” Sapphire finally turned to face Ruby to punctuate her point. “She shouldn’t have been able to hide it from _me_.”

Ruby didn’t agree, but she couldn’t muster a counterargument. As her arms drooped to her sides, she slowly shuffled towards the wall Sapphire was propped up against and slid down alongside her. She kept her hand pivoted around to keep the two in dim light, still in unbidden service to her liege.

The minutes ticked by without word. Thinking about the future seemed pointless, and its portents had failed to provide for them anyway. Instead, Ruby spiraled her thoughts around every act that had lead up to the now. Like Sapphire, she fixated on the what if, on cause and effect, the warning signs, until suddenly her consciousness caught on an aspect that had eluded her. In that instant, it completely spiraled her into an obsession that would not leave.

“You never fused before, have you?” Sapphire peeled her head up and locked eye with Ruby. Just as abruptly, the thought ensnared her too.

“No… I never knew you just… disappeared like that.”

“It _never_ feels like that,” Ruby corrected, almost overzealously.

“…Maybe we did it wrong.”

Ruby furrowed her brow slightly and planted her chin against her knees like Sapphire had done before. The pouting response made Sapphire feel guilty for a moment, until Ruby chimed back. “I don’t think we did.” Sapphire stared for a moment, watching the light reflect in the edges of Ruby’s eyes as they stared determinedly into the floor.

A small chill filled in after her breath when she said “Maybe we could try it again.”

Ruby perked her head back up, fighting the cold effortlessly with a sudden warmth. As she stared into Sapphire’s impenetrable locks, she failed to resist the temptation to gently stroke them aside again, revealing the one cerulean eye that had so entranced her amid Pink Diamond’s court and her twisted demands. Everything still seemed so alien to her, but at every inflection point she seemed to fall into the new unknown rather than fight her way out of it. This time would be no different.

“You did see _this_ would happen, didn’t you,” she whispered, caressing Sapphire’s cheek, whose gloved hands wrapped themselves with a similar tenderness in turn. Sapphire shook her head, lips turning into the first, minuscule smile she’d had in what felt like ages.

“No. _We_ saw it.”

* * *

When the wall slid open, it seemed as if the entire outside world had been replaced with blinding white. Still, the impenetrable dark held its own in other ways: Pink Diamond was nothing more than a silhouette at its border, but even under the binary veil her overtight grin was more than evident.

Garnet stood with her back to the door. Her fingers twitched slightly, wanting to ball themselves around her gems protectively, but a stronger defiance kept her palms open and obvious. Daring to be seen. There was a small internal conflict, not over any of the dozens of other obvious reactions, but whether she should take the newfound light as an opportunity to inspect herself once again, to see the colors of her skin without the purple tint of her own illumination. Finally, the silence broke through. She didn’t even have to turn around to confirm her suspicion. Pink arrived alone, not even her leering Pearl at her side.

“Are you my executioner?” Garnet said to the wall. Her eyes drifted up to the window. The black sky was beginning to give way to an orange haze.

Pink Diamond snickered. “You really think I’d sink so low as to kill a Gem with my own two hands?”

“I’m not so sure.” When Pink laughed aloud in response, Garnet had second thoughts about spending her final moments insulting the tyrant. Her instincts wanted it for its own selfish desires, but Pink’s giggling felt like iron nails on a never-ending chalkboard.

“Besides,” Pink Diamond continued, ignoring the interruption. “I don’t _have_ an executioner.” She paused for a moment, before suddenly letting a blue sort of lilt infect her voice, as if remembering something bittersweet. “Not anymore,” she added, without elaboration.

“Then go find one.”

“Oh,” she droned, letting the sing-song return to her voice, “I do love it when my gems play along.”

Garnet turned around robotically to let her stoic scorn become visible as well as heard. She left the words out of her retort this time around, replacing them with a just as obvious stare. Pink tilted her head slightly, curiosity bleeding into her own expression even as she maintained her toothed smirk.

“You knew I was coming, didn’t you?” she asked, staring into that third eye.

Garnet didn’t respond.

“Why didn’t you try the door? It wasn’t locked.”

She still didn’t respond. The punchline landed but all it did was lower Garnet’s brow further. Her eyes quickly traced the outline of the doorframe, its seams barely visible amidst the wall.

“It’s never locked. Nobody ever tries to get out.” Pink brushed at a loose lock of hair, betraying perhaps the frequency at which she informed her prisoners of this. “And besides, it’d be much more exciting if they did.”

Garnet debated for a moment whether that would’ve still been true for her if she had known ahead of time. It took serious consideration, but eventually she traded it in for a different debate.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Now _that_ ,” Pink pointed at the fusion to bring physicality to her inflection, “is the most boring question, and the same one everybody asks.” Garnet suddenly felt the urge to stare into her palms for what must’ve been the hundredth time, and like each time before, failed to resist. Pink’s words continued over the examination. “Nobody ever wants to think for themselves. Do you really need me to clue you in?”

Garnet looked back up, lips slightly parted. Some realization traced its way down her spine. She didn’t need to voice her next question for Pink to answer it.

“I told Blue Diamond about your – Sapphire and Ruby’s – little faux pas.” Pink let her flat expression return to something closer to her more usual sadism, tracing her index finger along the side of her chin. “Well, most of it. A, ah, ‘certain noble’ ordered you to fuse, and you did. Suffice to say, she was livid.”

The word felt almost incongruous. Garnet let the image play in her mind, memories of Blue’s quiet rage, a knife’s edge dance between restrained misery and indignant fury. “Livid” might’ve captured the volume, but not nearly the full range of what it really encompassed.

“She ordered your entire entourage back,” Pink continued. “I said, why waste a ship? They’re guests in my court, they should be made an example of, right here, on my colony. She accepted it immediately.” Garnet let her vision sink down towards her feet, but left her hands aloft. “She didn’t even ask for,” Pink Diamond paused ever so slightly, adjusting her vocabulary, “Sapphire’s facet number. She was almost happy to forget. On Homeworld, Sapphire has already been erased. Her Rubies barely existed in the first place.”

Garnet finally let her fists clench around each gem. Her old lives flashed before her, an undying acceptance to an understood order now gone forever. A chilly morning wind swept through the alcove.

Pink Diamond pivoted a little, running a gloved hand along the frame of the wall, staring into a still-dark corner of the cell. “The Diamonds use to throw me in a place like this all the time.” The fusion looked back up with a start, letting her expression transform back into rage. When Pink looked away from the wall again to catch her eyes, her derelict look also quickly dissipated. “Oh, does that not grant me your sympathy right now?”

“You think that makes it okay for you to destroy our lives?!”

“I did no such thing. My court knows who I am, and especially how to play along with a joke. _Blue Diamond_ destroyed you, and she did it without a second thought.” Pink stepped forward, taking Garnet’s wrists firmly in hand, but with a slack that could’ve easily allowed them escape. “But she failed.”

Garnet followed the rosy fingertips as they circled along her forearms. When she didn’t immediately snatch at the upturned pink gemstone in front, she strained to wonder why.

“Where she tried to erase what had happened, something got created instead. Something entirely new. You took a sick whim of mine and turned it into something greater than any of us. Greater than Blue Diamond. Greater than Homeworld.”

Garnet squinted her triplet eyes and let her voice betray a quiver of regret. “How could you know what this is like?”

“I was at court, remember? I saw you. I see you now. You told me everything I needed to know. And then you proved it again, here.” Garnet pulled carefully against Pink’s grasp, her eyes darting between nearby points in the air in front of her. As she retraced her memories, she looked back up at the empress with an accusatory glare.

“You put us both in here on purpose.”

“It took you that long to figure out?” Pink closed her eyes over a friendly smile. Garnet pulled her hands completely from the clasp, clutching her gems against her heart. Pink allowed her a step back without pursuit. “Does it even matter? You can hate me if you want, that doesn’t matter either. I can’t take this away from you. Nothing anyone does can take it. Not me, not my court, not Blue Diamond.” She gestured an upturned palm, tracing fingertips into a bowing-like motion. “You will always be… you.”

The fusion slowly peeled her gems back into the open. They stared once again at their shining facets, just as captivating as when she first laid eyes on their simultaneous state. It seemed strangest of all that such an alien concept felt so familiar. It was an education that left her far more ignorant than when Sapphire or Ruby had started. But it taught her at least one thing.

“I’m… Garnet.”

“It’s lovely to meet you, Garnet,” Pink replied, still holding a smile but otherwise uncharacteristically demure. It was almost more discomforting to see her appearing friendly rather than immediately cackling at the idea of this alien creature referring to itself with such a rank. She lowered her hands again, inviting Garnet to return to their grasp. With trepidation borne out of overly long limbs and a new fusion’s malformed motor skills more than anything, Garnet slowly slid her palms outward. The Diamond gently traced their edges with a lover’s captivation.

“What do you want with me?”

“Mm,” Pink Diamond hummed, gently pulling Garnet’s sapphire up to her lips while resting the other gem against her chest. She relished the question. “I want you to be a part of my court. My inner circle.”

“What?”

“You ask a lot of questions, don’t you, Garnet?” Pink’s laugh bubbled against the blue gem, half obscured. She closed her eyes as if savoring something sweet. “I want to give you something you’ve never really had before. Not in any way that mattered.” When she opened her eyes again, they stared decisively. “Power. Then, you’ll understand me completely.”

Garnet felt an instinct to retreat, but a new novelty was forming in the physical sensations imparted on her. Something tingled in having her gems touched so gingerly. It was most disconcerting in how Pink seemed to sense it too, following down her forearms before floating toward her chest, continuously tracing lower and lower. It expanded into inscrutability once her fingertips began drawing along the supple contours of her muscles and sliding along the creases between her legs. The sensations never seemed to go away even after Pink Diamond finally drew back.

“Come.” She gave the invite like a casual lover rather than a demanding dictator. Even with her touch released, her gestures pulled Garnet into the stark light, and she hypnotically followed until the world opened up itself. She was in the sanctum of Pink’s palace, amid halls that looked like any other fit for royalty, and not an ounce like the prison it had just been. Pink was far more cavalier in her belief that escape was beyond comprehension for the prisoners she took, even more than she admitted. The cell doors looked out over glass panes into resplendent courtyards, gardens, and royal offices.

Moreover, the palatial estate was far more lively than either of Garnet’s components had ever seen. Pink’s aesthetic made itself a completely dominating force, decorating everything in an ornate yet naturalistic beauty that could easily be construed as shaming the subdued architecture of Homeworld. She couldn’t help but feel like it was a purposeful parody – not of Homeworld, but Pink herself: a veneer of gentle beauty that belied the midnight prisons hidden just to the side behind a single unlocked door. She wondered how many more of these halls were unceremoniously dedicated to restraint, humiliation, or torture.

“We have so much to teach each other,” Pink aimlessly said as they began down the corridor.

“Like what?” Garnet struggled to keep pace alongside the Diamond with the ungainly steps she was taking. She hadn’t much practice within the meager square feet she had danced in earlier. But just as soon as she asked, the universe seemed to answer. Her periphery caught movement, and gazing out the windows into the next courtyard, she caught sight of a sea of pillows across a sun-drenched garden. Draped across them upwards of a dozen Jades and Amethysts writhed naked on top of one another, singing an atonal song of moans and purrs, an uneven combination in both action and caste.

Pink Diamond smirked wordlessly, loosely outstretching a finger so that it dragged along the window as they passed, not so much as to needlessly point out the scene as it unfolded, but just so the friction would slow her pace ever so little that she could enjoy the show that much longer.

“Maybe you’d be better as my Inquisitor, actually.”

Garnet had to take a second to pull her mind away from the strange performance and then a few more to figure out what Pink meant. “Inquisitor? Instead of…?”

Pink finally turned mid-stride to look back, mostly to betray her knowing smirk yet again. “My Executioner.”

Garnet stopped in her tracks, ambushed once more. The words seemed completely incongruous with the surroundings, like discussing poetry during a bloodletting.

“I told you: I don’t have one anymore.”

“W-why would you think I-”

“She’s in the cell next to yours,” Pink stated flatly. Garnet twisted around back towards the cells, as if looking for proof in their seamless edifice. “She didn’t get the joke. Way too serious, that Agate. Makes for some nice irony, don’t you think?”

“I…”

“Think it over,” Pink brushed her hand dismissively through the air and turned back to her previous stride. “See if it’s a good fit. Or just keep asking questions, I actually don’t mind. And if the job doesn’t suit you, well,” she looked back again to catch Garnet’s reaction in the edge of her vision, “you can always go back to Blue Diamond’s court.” When Garnet let her confusion give way to a renewed expression of irritation, Pink stopped, cutting her own smile just as quickly. “Oh, not you too now.”

“What?”

“You realize I was joking, right?” Garnet could only blink in response this time. Pink Diamond huffed, then closed her eyes as she recounted in a minorly mocking tone. “I told Blue Diamond you – Sapphire, were extremely helpful, and I asked to keep her around longer to assist me. She happily obliged, and eagerly awaits your return for a full report.”

Garnet balled her fists around her gems. A tiny part of her debated trying to punch Pink Diamond again.

“…Well, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, right? Or would she even be the one that’d be hurt, hm?” Pink let her eyes drift as her expression grew snide, then reverted back to addressing Garnet. “It’s up to you, any time you want to go back to your old life. Old lives, I mean. You can even tell her about all this, about me. I’m sure she’d love the part about the fusing.”

The Diamond left the final note on a tone of spitefulness, addressing something far beyond either of them. When the questions still failed to materialize again, she simply shrugged her shoulders and continued walking, leaving the fusion alone together to merely gawk in response. Only the distant hum of bed-strewn gems two courtyards back gave her silence any company. Once again her palms lifted and fingers stretched outwards.

The light was crisp and pure here. Garnet’s eyes shown clearly in the reflections of each gem’s facets. It was the very first time she had seen her own face.

* * *

The Peridot had planned on inquiring as to the latest defect rates on P1-3 for her report back to Yellow Diamond, but at the sight of the justiciar towering over her, the interrogation suddenly seemed in poor taste. She decided to just ad-lib that part of the account. Until then, she demurred and stuck to the script she hoped was the least offending. 

“I’m here for the shards.”

The golem stared down silently, her ever-present gauntlets still unerringly clenched. The technician could see herself in the dark reflection of the obsidian visor; she wondered how the gem could even see through such an edifice. Technical questions like that usually kept her mind occupied, but it betrayed her when she saw the outline of her own, fearful expression.

“Y-Yellow Diamond continues to request materials for the, the experiments,” she re-stated, hoping some sort of confusion in her message was the cause for such imposing awkwardness. When an answer still failed to return, she only felt more helpless. As her hands absentmindedly began tracing over one another, she wondered if she should salute the superior gem again. “I, uh,” she briefly stammered, until a rigid finger as thick as her arm suddenly caressed her cheek.

“You’re cute.” The Garnet’s monotone voice sent a bassy shiver through Peridot’s body. Her shoulders tensed up as the digit slowly ran down her neck before landing down below her collar.

“Uh,” Peridot nearly yelped, “t-t-thanks.”

Garnet tapped lightly against her skin. “You want the shards,” her voice continued in a deep drawl, “of the people I’ve shattered.” Peridot winced.

“Yes,” she nearly whispered. “o-of the off, off-c-colors…” Another tap landed on her surface, just slightly more firm this time. She tried to fixate on something other than her own captured visage in the midnight-colored glass, so she tried to memorize the motions of the Garnet’s lips, their uncharacteristic plumpness giving her a strange air of nobility despite her abyssal role. She suddenly realized her mistake when the commander leaned forward.

“Is something wrong, Peridot?”

“NO! I mean, n-n-no!”

“You look frightened.” The finger traced back to under the green gem’s chin.

“I’m, I’m…”

“Are you scared of me, Peridot?”

“W-w-w-why would-”

“I don’t look off-color to you,” she continued unstoppably, “do I?”

A chill seemed to permeate the air. Peridot wanted to shout back in response, but the fear froze her.

“Or maybe,” Garnet hummed, “you’re an off-color?”

Peridot exhaled a gasp as the gauntlet tilted her head up towards her captor. All that stared back at her now was a terrified child, projected flat across impenetrable black.

Suddenly, their lips collided. A thick tongue rolled into Peridot’s mouth, wrapping around her own until it withdrew in a quick sucking motion that pulled at her bottom lip. It relinquished once only to dive back again, and on the second withdrawal she could feel steely teeth drag across her lip. Her once-dry mouth felt awash in the strange, overbearing flavor of another’s tongue. It left her paralyzed, to the point that when Garnet stood back up to her full height and withdrew her hand, Peridot nearly tipped over before she finally had the presence of mind to recoil.

The executioner let a smirk break between her lips, before running her tongue along their length again in a quiet satisfaction. It came as both a relief and as a deeply flustering event for the technician to witness.

“I like you.”

“W, wh, w-wh”

“The shards will be transferred to your vessel shortly. Make sure you have all that your Diamond requires.”

Peridot continued staring helplessly, mouth still moist and slightly agape.

The Garnet straightened her stance and hammered her gauntlets against her chest, locking them into the right angles of a perfect diamond. The formality sprung comfort back on her compatriot, who sloppily registered in kind. After a few moments more of a continued awkward glance, the Peridot finally relented and began to slink away, but could not escape entirely before Garnet could chime in one last time.

“I hope I see you again for the next visit.” The Peridot winced again before slowly turning back towards the speaker, eyebrows raised in confusion. “They send a new gem for every delivery.” Garnet combed a gauntlet through the tight curls of her overabundant hair, letting her muscular frame stretch gently in the dim hangar light. “It’s as if they don’t want to see me again,” she punctuated, before letting a smirk finish out the light-hearted lilt in her voice. It fit about as well as a romantic dinner in an unlit tomb.

If Peridot had a heart, she would’ve heard it pounding between her ears.

* * *

Garnet strolled from the shipyard back into the Zoo’s inner sanctum. In the time that she had lived in this system, the outpost had expanded from the framework of a diversionary station to something that rivaled any of the spires planted on the colony itself. The construction may have appeared suspicious if it weren’t for the state of things planetside.

Sapphire never returned to Homeworld. Her predictions for new kindergarten sites had been dutifully dictated, transcribed, and then disseminated back down the chain of command for immediate execution. Her words came straight from Pink Diamond’s court, so as to ensure with utmost certainty that not a syllable was twisted or omitted. But rather than the “Flawless Legions” Pink Diamond was promised, every chosen site was a disaster of deviant contamination, each more off-color than the last.

After the skyrocket of defective population, new kindergarten construction was put on hold until further studies could be repeated once the appropriate punishments had been meted out. As such, the world itself was also given a stay of execution. In the meantime, Pink’s minions continued construction where they could, their focus primarily on the Zoo and its growing population of subjugated humans who were no longer endangered by the gem’s armada of drills. As for the assumedly off-color Sapphire responsible for it all, Pink Diamond happily informed Blue that her new prized Garnet would oversee the shattering.

The fusion bathed in the memory of what transpired as she paced into the depths of the station. It was as if she was on autopilot. The warmth on her tongue was just an idle spark at first, seemingly extinguished against an unbidding tongue, but somehow it had regrown into a heat that stoked a column down the length of her spine. It was a restless, familiar sensation, to the point that it had become an idle addiction with only one truly satisfying method of quenching it.

The feeling first occurred to her in those very first days among Pink’s court. When she was quickly ushered back into the next day’s festivities, Pink had yet to deign Garnet with outright orders; but just before they warped back to the Sky Arena, the Diamond took her close and whispered her singular piece of advice: “Memorize their faces.”

Garnet hardly could’ve understood it at the time, but as Pink wordlessly escorted the two of them to her palanquin throne, realization dawned. Garnet didn’t need to memorize them anew. Somehow, each of the audience’s reactions from the day of her first fusion had seared themselves into her memory, from their laughter, to their disgust, to their rage. Somehow, they stoked the fury in her more than Pink Diamond ever could. They were nobles hardly above Sapphire’s station, yet their revulsion showed clearer than any disdain a Diamond could grant.

Pink merely kept Garnet at her side as the usual festivities reignited. Ruby and Sapphire had been spared these shows previously with the wordless secrets the court kept, but now it came back in redoubled efforts, creating a frenetic crash course in Earthling custom, biology, and debauchery. Pink Diamond didn’t need to encourage Garnet to maintain rapt attention. As she grew more and more stunned by the escalating rituals, the fringes of the audience snickered and leered at the fused couple.

Amidst a languishing orgy of Amethysts, Pink’s Pearl finally announced a cessation of festivities in favor of official business before the entourage would retire. It wouldn’t be the last time she played this prank. The only topic for consideration was the introduction of Garnet to the court as Pink’s newly appointed Executioner. The proclamation came with the obvious amount of astonishment and then crushing realization.

Of course, Garnet was left out of the real punchline. The next session of court came the following day, to a much, much smaller audience. In their place, Pink presented Garnet a gift of apology for all of her past taunts via a veritable dragon’s hoard of gemstones. Garnet didn’t need to see their faces. Every twist and contortion of their smiles played vividly in her head, matched perfectly with every jewel she could see. It was the sort of revenge only a Diamond could orchestrate.

Garnet was merciful that time. She almost wasn’t, until she spotted two rubies buried within the pile. It was all just as well, to see every single face a second time later, forever humbled. It was in their eyes that Garnet understood what Pink meant about power. She felt like falling apart, but a certain tightness of spite and malevolence kept her permanently strung together. Once the memories finally began to gain distance, it didn’t take her long to learn how to kill.

She’d held together every day since then too. Her body was a rush of feelings squeezed together by its own gravity, like a black hole of confusion, ecstasy, fury, pain, laughter, so on and so forth until every emotion of every day since that first one evened out into the flat, cutting edge that created Garnet. It immediately made her a fitting figure in Pink’s court, both as a balance and as an emphasis on the Diamond’s own schizophrenic whims and urges. And just as easily as her presence could instantly chill a room, Garnet could break with a smile or with a grimace and instantly change the lives of everyone subordinate to her.

But as her heavy steps echoed through the hall, she could feel that hairline fracture upon her edifice. Although the corridors appeared empty, she could sense the retreat of those ahead of her, insects fearing extermination fleeing from encroaching light. They were not her goal, but she appreciated the lack of distraction. Her reply otherwise couldn’t be predicted, no matter how many futures played in her vision.

When she reached Pink’s throne, she made her intentions clear. “I demand an audience with my Diamond,” she said with a daring clarity. It was the sort of request that would’ve killed any other gem making it. But Pink Diamond quietly relished it, delighted at the interruption like a private in-joke. To those outside the circle, it was yet another secret that gave Garnet her unfathomable power.

* * *

Pink’s yell was cut short as Garnet’s hands wrapped around her neck, fingers pressing deep into quivering flesh. The gems made sharp imprints in the Diamond’s skin as if branding her for possession. Garnet groaned between clenched teeth in a hateful response to the cry. Its interruption irritated her. Her prey sunk her chest deeper into the bed in an attempt to escape, but Garnet chased inexorably until her hips could bury themselves seamlessly against Pink’s thighs. She leaned forward until she had smothered herself against the Diamond’s back, before letting her rhythm quicken again and wring out a new cacophony of cries from a suffocating hold.

Her insides burned along every inch of oversized cock. As it landed into Pink’s deepest reaches, it ignited in her chest until she begged for mercy. Garnet tightened her grip. She didn’t need her gauntlets to subdue a Diamond. All she needed was her rage. Each time it began brimming inside her, she took it out on her liege. It was a monster Pink herself had unleashed, tracing its origins to the first time she laid herself bare across a sea of velvet and ordered her: “Take whatever you desire.” It was the reward she bestowed when the sea of gems scattered across a crystalline floor apparently failed to be enough.

Every gem introduced to mating had developed a sort of morbid fascination as it so fit them. For Garnet, she spun it into an ironic revenge, that old instinctive desire to lash out now honed into a sexual firestorm. She desired much more than Pink Diamond could ever give her, so she simply took whatever she could get her hands on, even her very breath. Just like a real firestorm: sapping all the oxygen around it.

“Please-”

“Shut. Up.” Garnet spat between gritted teeth, pulling back harder now to keep the oversized gem within reach and embedded upon her. She had looped her arms around Pink’s to keep the chokehold even more inseparable, and fought to tighten it more and more whenever she felt herself the slightest bit off-kilter. Such was the lack of restraint one can give to an immortal queen. But as soon as she knew she could strike true, she reared back and then shot forward, spearing her Diamond in one swift but torturous drive. Pink choked out another scream in a rising and falling tempo that matched every impact.

“I could shatter you right now,” Garnet sneered out over the din of cries. “I could punish you for every sick, twisted thing you’ve done.” Her pace quickened again, now in an unstoppable trance. A single stark coolness traced down along her fingers as Pink’s tears slid off her cheeks, contrasting against the molten heat that seemed to fill every other part of her. “I could, I could,” she repeated, trailing off, huffing more heavily, feeling a tightness brimming in her chest and then slowly sinking.

“Take,” Pink began to say, the one coherent word she managed before her voice shattered completely. She gasped fruitlessly against the iron grip until her eyes rolled back as if to find her captor. Garnet shortly followed, abandoning her insults to groan in time with her victim, until simultaneously their songs gave out to pure silence, leaving only the heavy sound of their mating to fill the air. It was only a few more brutal seconds until Garnet mustered another wrathful growl, like a predator eviscerating its prey, as she slammed home a torrent of cum deep inside her Empress.

The two collapsed into a heaving pile for several minutes thereafter, until their breaths again grew subdued and restrained. Pink Diamond traced at the marks around her neck, marveling at their apparent depth.

Garnet rose and wordlessly began to redress, keeping her eyes on the ground lest her gaze get lost in the endless ceiling of the bedchambers. A droning, harp-like noise began to descend from its depths, while the interlocking floor tiles began to cast shallow beams of reddish light from between their creases. Pink’s lithe frame warmed with a similar hue, her sweat-drenched body shimmering in its own reflection. The droplets coalesced with a magnetic tension, tracing along the outlines of naked skin until they tightened into soft, pink marbles. When the hum had reached its loudest, they began peeling away from her entirely, floating like a reversing rain in slow motion, as if seeking their home.

This was always the one period of regret for Garnet, these precious few seconds. Even beyond her sinister role, this somehow left her feeling worse. It made her a living part of the machinery that kept tyranny alive. In every iridescent drop, she could see the miserable life of another servant gem play out its part in Pink Diamond’s menagerie empire, an eternity of twisting servitude. It made her a partner in their conception. Eventually, she just trained herself to stop looking.

The extraction chamber powered down. Pink sat up atop the pillows to address her in a uniquely pathetic voice.

“You really hate me, don’t you?”

Garnet paused from fitting an armored plate back onto her forearm, a slight frown forming betwixt her lips.

Pink Diamond shuffled forward, half-crawling with still-sore body and cooling slickness between her legs. She caressed her fingers around Garnet’s thigh, tracing the powerful muscle as it sat dormant under sunset-sky-colored flesh. “The joke never stops being funny, even when it’s on me,” she whispered in a mixed tone of both sadness and coyness. Garnet looked down at her, watching the eyes marvel at her fused form.

Then Pink looked up, capturing the vulnerability she could only hide behind obsidian glass. The wide smile that encroached on Pink’s face betrayed as much, until her expression pursed back into pecking lips that landed along Garnet’s shapeshifted cock. It was the weapon she chose for these nights, and what separated her from the majority of gems who held onto their natural femininity. “I took everything from you,” Pink said amidst planting another kiss. “There’s nowhere else that you can go.”

Garnet felt a stiffness returning even at the gentle contact. She already felt whatever leftover stubbornness she had melting when Pink’s fingers gently ringed themselves around the base. “This is where you belong,” Pink Diamond whispered, slipping a tongue out between the next kiss as it landed under Garnet’s tip. She stroked the skin gently, coaxing it back to life, before returning her gaze upward in a giggle. “You belong to me,” she said, before the length disappeared between her lips.

“Forever,” Garnet replied in her deathful monotone, as she placed her Rubied hand on the back of the Diamond’s head.


End file.
